Social Services in the Eighties – A Turning Point?

The deepening economic crisis has cast major doubts on the government’s ability to persist in expanding its budget faster than the national product growth rate. Under these conditions, the call for budget cutbacks, once the battle-cry of a minority of economists, has now become the slogan of a universally sanctioned national campaign. Today, the question is no longer whether to cut the budget, but by how much and where. Thus, the competition for government funds has intensified, as the different sectors scrimmage over a dwindling total volume of resources.

This paper appears as a chapter in the Center’s annual publication, Israel’s Outlays for Human Services 1984, and is available upon request.