Michael Sarel, who recently stepped down as chief economist at Israel’s Treasury Ministry, speaks about the challenges facing Israel’s economy, the political roadblocks that prevent improvements, and the dangers of over-regulation. (Interview by Amnon Lord and Akiva Bigman)
The populism contest [among politicians] is the primary obstacle to a fundamental improvement in Israel’s economic situation. According to Dr. Sarel, since the days of Netanyahu’s reforms in 2003-2005 when he served as Treasury Minister, Israel has not had an economic policy that deals with fundamentally changing the situation but only one dealing with the symptoms of the present one. “Very often, there are very attractive ideas which ostensibly deal with the problems in the economy,” he says, “and they have good visibility. On the macro level they seem to solve the problems, but when you properly examine these cures, you understand that the negative results are greater than the positive ones.”
Read more on Mida: http://mida.org.il/2015/01/06/income-matters-gaps/