Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

The Reut Institute has recently uploaded a report analyzing the resilience of different countries in light of the economic crisis (Stress Test). Ranking first are Denmark, Singapore and Qatar. Israel is ranked 20th.

An analysis of the four different sub criteria shows Israel ranked relatively highly in the general forecast of its economy (12). However, the Israeli business sector (25), the government (22) and society (22) receive lower scores.

The high score the Israeli economy receives could be attributed to the government’s policy in recent years aiming at preserving economic stability (low inflation, low unemployment, and tackling the deficit). However, the low scores in the other categories reflect the weakness of Israel’s government, social, and business institutions.

Reut’s report on leapfrogging demonstrates that the manner in which the public sphere is organized and managed will determine the country’s ability to leapfrog. The current policy – that proved efficient in tackling the economic crisis – is likely to produce, at best, only moderate growth. However, it is highly unlikely it will be able to instigate socio-economic leapfrogging.

For this to happen, Israel must dramatically improve the quality of its institutions.