Public Expenditures – A Look at Israel’s National Priorities

But the relatively higher civilian expenditures did not prevent rates of poverty and income inequality from rising higher than is common in most Western countries. Where did the money go? In contrast to the common practice, this chapter shows Israel’s budgetary allocations by areas of expenditure rather than by government ministries. This makes it possible to see Israel’s actual national priorities rather than its declared ones.

This paper appears in the Center’s annual publication State of the Nation Report – Society, Economy and Policy 2009.