The Singer Series: State of the Nation Report 2013

The Singer Series annual State of the Nation Report: Society, Economy and Policy in Israel, the Taub Center’s premier publication, gives a unique historical and international perspective on Israel’s long-run socioeconomic trajectories, highlighting their primary determinants and offering policy options.  The Report provides the Israeli public and policy makers with vantage points that are both broad and deep in highly relevant social and economic issues, with research spanning the fields of economics, education, labor, health, and social welfare, as well as various other special topics.

This year’s report focuses on several of Israel’s primary socioeconomic issues, each from a number of different perspectives.  Inequality and poverty in Israel are examined not just in terms of income but as they impact and are reflected in health and education.  The country’s elderly are looked at in terms of employment and incomes (Kimhi and Shraberman) and their levels of poverty (Ben-David and Bleikh).

The Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jews) sector is the focus for an examination of their education levels, employment, and wages (Regev), while material hardship and coping mechanisms in this group are compared to other population groups (Stier and Lewin). Other topics covered in this volume include: health (Chernichovsky and Regev) and mental health reform (Aviram); pupils and teachers (Blass), the link between school discipline and educational achievement (Blank and Shavit), and higher education in Israel (Ben-David); women in the labor force (Stier and Herzberg); educational opportunities and employment (Bar-Haim, Blank, and Shavit); productivity (Ben-David); and a macro view of issues in the Israeli economy (Yashiv). As in past volumes, the chapters in this year’s report are written by some of Israel’s premier researchers in the social sciences.