Auditing the Conventional Wisdom: Issues of Equality in Israel

Abstract

It is conventional wisdom in Israel, apparent in the writings of academics and publicists, and widely expressed by politicians, that the country suffers from an abnormally wide social gap, or differential between the incomes of rich and poor. The validity of the claim does not stand up to serious inquiry. Unfortunately, the State Comptroller shares in propagating the “wisdom,” rather than addressing it from a critical perspective suitable to the audit function.

Keywords:

• state audit
• equality
• Israel

Notes

1. Sternhell, Z. (1995). Nation-Building or a new society? In The Zionist labor movement (1904–1940) and the Origins of Israel. Tel Aviv: Am Oved. The Jerusalem Post, November 26, 1993, 4A (in Hebrew). Shalev, M. (1992). Labour and the political economy in Israel. New York: Oxford University Press (pp. 245–46). Horowitz, D., Lissak, M. (1989). Trouble in utopia: The overburdened polity of Israel. Albany: State University of New York Press (p. 83f). The author has reported these findings previously, but not from the perspective of auditing the work of the State Auditor

2. Parliamentary Research Committee on Social Gaps in Israel Report. (2002). Jerusalem: Knesset. Office of the State Comptroller. Annual Report #52B Jerusalem: Author (pp. 5–12) (in) Hebrew. Office of the State Comptroller. Annual Report #50B Jerusalem: Author (pp. 5–99), (in Hebrew).

3. Ibid.

4. Shalev, Ibid.

5. Horowitz & Lissak, Ibid.

6. Sternhell, Ibid.

9. Shalev, M. Data about inequality do not lie: Gaps in income between poor and rich in Israel are enormous, and the state lags far behind other western nations in this field. Response to the article of Haim Barkai, ‘Inequality is not Great. The table lies’. Ha'aretz, September 26, 2000, B3. (in Hebrew).

10. Parliamentary Research Committee on Social Gaps in Israel. (2002) Report. Jerusalem: Knesset. (in Hebrew). The international comparisons appear in a PowerPoint presentation entitled Poverty and inequality in income distributions: A picture of the situation. Jerusalem: Knesset October 2001 (in Hebrew).

11. Ha'aretz, September 15, 2003, 11 (Hebrew).

21. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2002). Statistical Abstract of the United States 2000. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office (Table 1412). Internet edition: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-us.html. The countries in the comparison are the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

25. Jesuit and Smeeding, Poverty and Income Distribution.

29. Barak, G. (1991). Toward a criminology of state criminality. in Barak, G. ed. Crimes by the capitalist state: An introduction to state criminality. Albany: State University of New York Press. Karsh, E. (1997). Fabricating Israel's history: The new historians. London: Frank Cass. Kimmerling, B. ed. (1989). The Israeli state and society: Boundaries and frontiers. Albany: State University of New York Press. Kimmerling, B. (1993). Palestinians: The making of a people. New York: Free Press. Smooha, S. (1989). Arabs and Jews in Israel: Conflicting and shared attitudes in a divided society. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

30. Kal Ha'ir, October 6, 2000, 51 (in Hebrew).

32. Ibid, Tables 94, 95.

33. Ibid, Table 124.

34. Central Bureau of Statistics, op. cit., Table 3.16.

35. Ibid, Table 3.19.

36. USDOL, op. cit., Section 2, Introduction.

38. Central Bureau of Statistics, op. cit., Table 22.1.

39. Data for 1993 comes from Local Authorities 1993. (1996). Financial data. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics. (in Hebrew). Data for 1997 comes from Local Authorities 1997. (1998). Financial data. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics. (Tables 13, 40). and Central Bureau of Statistics. (2000). Statistical Abstract of Israel 1999. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics. (Table 2.14) (in Hebrew). Local Authorities 1993. (1996). Physical data. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics. (Table 47). (in Hebrew). Local Authorities 1997. (1999). Physical Data. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics. (Table 50). (in Hebrew). Government ministries provide other allocations to local authorities, as well as pursue their own projects throughout Israel. These activities benefit the residents of cities and towns even if they do not pass through the budgets of the local authorities. There are no centrally collected data, organized by cities and towns, or by Jewish and Arab beneficiaries, of the total outlays of the Israeli government.

40. The comparative figure for 1982 cannot be derived from the information available.

42. “Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Amos 5:22–24.