Spotlighting Israel’s internal root (shoresh) existential challenges

"Knight of Quality Government Award" to Prof. Dan Ben-David

Recognition for impacting national policies

In 2023, Professor Dan Ben-David received the prestigious "Knight of Quality Government Award" granted by the Movement for Quality Government “in recognition of his significant contribution to Israel’s academia and society; for providing evidence-based analyses to decision makers and the general public; and for his impact on the determination of policies at the national level.” In the video screened at the award ceremony, Professor Ben-David shares his vision and the mission for the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Policy.

Featured Publications

Israel’s education system has been far less successful than leading countries in reducing link between parental education and their children’s scholastic achievements

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Education systems’ success in dealing with pupils’ gaps from home is vitally important in providing equal opportunities and for accelerating intergenerational mobility in society as a whole. Focusing on all of the international PISA exams in reading, mathematics and science during the years 2006-2018, this study examines how successful Israel’s education system has been in reducing these gaps. The impact of parental education levels on their children’s achievements in the PISA exams over the years is measured for Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking pupils in Israel and compared with a benchmark group of the highest scoring countries. The findings indicate that while even the leading education systems were unable to completely eliminate achievement gaps resulting from differences in parental education, Israel’s education system has performed considerably worse in this regard. Gaps in exam scores between Hebrew-speaking pupils, on the basis of their parents’ education levels, are much higher – sometimes more than double – the gaps in the leading countries. Even after statistically controlling for additional explanatory variables, the relationship between parents’ education and their children’s achievements remains much stronger in Israel than in the leading countries. In lieu of a substantial improvement in the ability of Israel’s education system to overcome the gaps with which the pupils come from home, the hurdles on the path toward intergenerational mobility may become insurmountably high.

Current state of Israel’s food security is relatively good, but Israel is at bottom of OECD in terms of natural resources and resilience, which is a warning sign for the country’s food security situation in the future

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The state of food security in Israel is better than in most countries, but the threats to food security arising from climate change, international conflicts and disruptions in global supply chains require better preparation for the future. Israel’s population growth and the slowdown in the growth rate of its agricultural production are leading the country to increasingly rely on food imports. Such imports expose Israel to even greater global risks, and require the formulation of a risk management strategy. This necessitates the establishment of a governmental authority to oversee the formulation of the strategy, break it down into feasible objectives and policy measures, and supervise their implementation.



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