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Explains the development of Israel's welfare state, concentrating on the labour exchange system and housing. Links the development of the Zionist welfare state to economic and political conditions, in particular state‐building and the management of the Palestinian community within the state. Refers to literature on policy paradigms. Notes the stable institutional infrastructures developed by the Jewish community in Palestine and the Zionist labour movement, which led to an embryonic welfare state. Recounts the development of the labour exchange process and the public housing policy, describing how the policies reinforced statehood – settling immigrants into areas where Jewish presence needed strengthening and, at first, largely excluding the Palestinian community from access to housing and the labour process. Points out that, over time, the exclusion of Palestinians became unrealistic. Concludes that Israel's welfare state was determined by political conditions of developing statehood – most importantly the exodus of Palestinians and the influx of Jewish immigrants.

This book examines the political and institutional processes that have led to the strengthening of the Israeli central bank within the context of the now predominant neoliberal regime.

This article explores the political dynamics that have led to the adoption of inflation targeting in Israel, within the context of a broader process of policy paradigm shift. We consider inflation targeting as an institutional arrangement with far reaching consequences for the distribution of power between different state agencies. Therefore, like other processes of institutional change, its adoption is not the simple outcome of smooth processes of learning and acceptance of more rational and efficient practices. Rather, it is the result of political conflicts among state actors seeking to improve their positions in the political-economic field. On the basis of a detailed study of the political conflicts that emerged around the adoption of inflation targeting in Israel between the central bank and the Ministry of Finance, we illustrate the contested character of the institutionalization of the neo-liberal policy paradigm and highlight the actions of local political actors as a major mechanism through which worldwide diffusion of institutional practices takes place. Adapted from the source document.