Suchergebnisse

AbstractInstitutional investors are key actors in the financial markets of diverse developed economies. Their tendency toward diversification and risk-taking behavior is well documented, yet insufficient attention has been paid to the sources of this behavior. Based on the case of emerging financial markets in Israel, this paper argues that in adopting various neoliberal reforms, state agencies induced institutional investors to change their investment behavior toward diversification and greater risk-taking. Until the early 2000s, Israel's institutional investors were marginal actors in a financial system designed to support state-building, primarily investing in government bonds and bank deposits. As changing state financial interests induced market changes, institutional investors emerged as autonomous actors, diversifying their investments to also include corporate bonds, stocks and investments in foreign financial markets. With individuals' growing dependency on institutional investors for their financial security, greater insight into the role of state agencies in financial markets could help identify factors affecting their functioning in financial capitalism.

This article studies which of the directors of the largest corporations in Israel were invited to sit on additional boards of directors between the years 1974 and 1988. The article compares organizational affiliations, and the human and social capital of directors who accumulate directorships with those who do not. The study uses logistic regression to discern which variables increase the likelihood of being invited on to an additional board. The findings strongly support the hypothesis that it is a combination of the structure of the national economy and human and social capital of the directors which determines who will join additional boards.

In doppelter Hinsicht vergleichende Analyse von Entstehung und wirtschaftlicher Dominanz der israelischen "business groups" (nach Granovetter Firmengruppierungen mit formellen und/oder informellen Beziehungen): zum einen Langzeitvergleich der Entwicklung in Israel und andererseits Vergleich der israelischen Struktur mit der ostasiatischer Gesellschaften (Japan, Südkorea, Taiwan). (DÜI-Hns)

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.