The Israeli economy has seen both rapid growth and price stability, and subsequently a very sharp deceleration. The design and execution of fiscal policy have improved markedly in recent years, but further progress is needed. It is also important to make further, steady progress with the...

This Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes—Data Module provides an assessment of Israel’s macroeconomic statistics against the Special Data Dissemination Standard complemented by an assessment of data quality based on the IMF’s Data Quality Assessment Framework, July 2003. The...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes the empirical relationship between corporate leverage—and other indicators of financial health—and investment in Israel, using dynamic panel data techniques. The results suggest that weak balance sheets may well have contributed to the investment decline...

The methodologies used in this paper suggest that Israel’s real exchange rate is moderately undervalued, while gains in external competitiveness appear to have been eroded in recent years. Market-based indicators provide a useful additional dimension to the analysis of financial stability in...

The Israeli economy is performing exceptionally well, but still high public indebtedness calls for the continuation of strong economic policies. Monetary policy has successfully stabilized inflation expectations, but policy and communication challenges remain. The recent positive fiscal...

We propose a fiscal rule that fulfills a specific debt reduction objective while maintaining significant fiscal flexibility-two overarching concerns in Israel. Not unlike the Swiss ""debt brake,"" the rule incorporates an error-correction mechanism (ECM) through which departure from the debt...

This paper examines the role of exchange rate appreciation and the minimum wage in the relative decline of traditional sectors in Israel. It finds little evidence to indicate that real exchange rate appreciation is primarily responsible for this decline. Rather, the evidence indicates that...

Israel is on the threshold of a marked improvement in economic performance. Passage of a revised Bank of Israel law along the lines recommended by the Levin Commission and endorsed by the Bank of Israel should be achieved as soon as possible. Continued vigilance regarding real exchange rate...

The paper suggests that several factors, besides tight monetary policy, may well have contributed to the high real interest rates that have been observed in Israel. The paper examines the impact of unanticipated changes in nominal interest rate monetary policy shocks on a number of variables in...

This paper studies the Mexican and Israeli experience with a target zone. The first part of the paper develops a model of exchange rate determination under a target zone regime with stochastic realignments, and examines the conditions under which the adoption of the target zone, instead of a...