"How Much Do Israelis Pay for the Israeli-Arab Conflict?" with Joseph Zeira

Joseph Zeira joins IIJS for a discussion of the long-term economic impact of conflict, conscription, and defense spending in Israel
About this Event


Tuesday, October 20, at 6:00 PM | 617 Kent Hall

Israel has always had high defense costs. They were highest during the conflict with the Arab States, between 1967 and 1980, the years of the Six-Day War and the Peace with Egypt, respectively. Since then, defense costs have declined significantly. However, the conflict has additional informal costs, mostly opportunity costs, namely, lost output due to the conflict. First, every clash with the Palestinians creates a recession, just as the current war does. Second, there are two continuing opportunity costs. One is driven by conscription, which causes young people to delay their entry to the labor market. The second opportunity cost is caused by low capital due to high risk. Together, these two opportunity costs reach 30 percent of GDP. Joseph Zeira joins IIJS to examine the long-term economic costs of conflict and defense in Israel.

Joseph Zeira is professor emeritus of Economics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During the years, he visited Harvard, Brown, Brandeis, the University of Crete, Columbia University and Northwestern University. Joseph Zeira is a macroeconomist, who specializes in a number of areas: technology and economic growth, income distribution, money and liquidity, and the economy of Israel. His book, The Israeli Economy: A Story of Success and Costs, was published in 2021 by Princeton University Press.

Joseph Zeira has also been involved in a number of professional activities, as an advisor to the Minister of Finance in Israel, as a board member of a Pension Fund, and in the Aix Group, where Israelis, Palestinians, and Internationals study the economic aspects of a potential peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. In 2014, he was a member of a government committee for reducing poverty in Israel. In 2016-2020, he served as the president of the Israeli Economic Association. Since 2020 he is the Chair of the Magid Institute for External Education in the Hebrew University.

*Guests must register by Friday, October 16, to be approved for campus access; unregistered guests will not be permitted on campus. Each guest must register individually using a unique email address.

Supported by the generosity of the Kaye and Appel families.

While all IIJS events are free and open to the public, we do encourage a suggested donation of $10.