Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tured goods and, later, on farm products. While high tariffs were initially substituted for the
nontariff barriers, tariffs began coming down after 1992. To even the playing fi eld for both
imports and exports, Israel eliminated exchange rate insurance and preferential interest rates
for exporters during the 1990s.
Israel's two biggest overseas markets are the European Union (33 percent of total exports
in 2008) and the United States (28 percent), a function of cultural ties and the nature of most
of Israel's exports, which are for wealthy, industrialized markets. As the balance of world eco-
nomic power shifts to East Asia, Israel has sought to increase trade with China and the other
industrial powers of the region. Asia took 16 percent of exports in 2008.
Israel's trade with the Arab world, except for energy imports from Egypt, is minimal. The
Arab boycott of foreign companies doing business with Israel withered away in the early 1990s
as the peace process with the Palestinians got under way. A host of imported consumer prod-
ucts never previously available came into Israel, and new overseas markets opened up for
Israeli companies. Israeli companies, however, remain subject to the boycott in most of the
Arab world. Even if businesses in Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states with which Israel has
diplomatic relations, do not formally subscribe to it, they shun business relationships with
their Israeli counterparts.
ISRAEL IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD
In 2010, acceptance into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development was
a sort of matriculation ceremony, admitting Israel to the exclusive club of developed nations.
Membership requires Israel to meet the world's highest standards on matters like protecting
the environment and fi ghting corruption. Its ability to thrive does not hinge on developing
the basic skill sets of a twenty-fi rst century economy — its citizens already have those — only in
taking the right steps to ensure they are not lost or squandered.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Unfortunately, very few books have been published on the Israeli economy in English for nonspecialists.
Moreover, so much of the economic environment has changed since the 1990s that books pub-
lished before 2000 are often out of date in addressing contemporary issues.
Aharoni, Yair.
The Israeli Economy: Dreams and Realities
. London: Routledge, 1991.
Ben-Bassat, Avi, ed.
The Israeli Economy, 1985 -1998: From Government Intervention to Market Economics
.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.
Breznitz, Dan.
Innovation and State: Political Choice and Strategies for Growth in Israel, Taiwan and Ire-
land
. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Klein, Michael.
A Gemara of the Israel Economy
. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Re-
search, 2005.
Knowledge@Wharton. “Israel and the Innovative Impulse.” Wharton, University of Pennsylvania.
http://
Morag, Nadav. “The Economic and Social Effects of Intensive Terrorism: Israel, 2000 -2004,”
MERIA
