Environmental technologies – the green future
The field of environmental technology development includes a very wide range of activities. In the study, which is conducted jointly by the Samuel Neaman Institute, Globes Research and Kesselman & Kesselman, we show that there are very large opportunities in the new market and that the government must take a series of actions realize these […]
Allocating Security Expenditures under Knightian Uncertainty: an Info-Gap Approach
In this paper we demonstrate a methodology aimed at coping with resource allocation under Knightian (non-probabilistic) uncertainty by focusing on the example of competing security measures. The results of this application to security resource allocation also allow us to postulate a possible positivist explanation for the way governments are allocating these expenditures today. We explore […]
Liquidity Constraints on the Attainment of Tertiary Education in Israel
This study examines the effect of a family’s economic background on the chances of a twelfth grade high school student to obtain a first (bachelor) degree. The study analyses the marks obtained in the matriculation certificate by twelfth grade students in 1992-97, together with their parents’ demographic and social data taken from the 1995 census, […]
Energy Forum 4: Solar energy for the production of heat
Introduction The Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Research in Science and Technology, within the framework of its activity in the energy field, conducts meetings of the Energy Forum, devoted to discussions and debate over energy related issues of national importace. The Energy Forum holds focused discussions regarding specified themes, and teams of subject-matter experts are […]
The Limits of Capital: Transcending the Public Financer – Private Producer Split in R&D (STE-WP-40)
Despite a strong tendency in the privatization literature to prefer private sector solutions to public sector ones, in the case of R&D a near consensus has emerged that supports public R&D funding for private production as a solution to a host of market failures. This article explores theoretical justifications for a more expansive role for […]
The quality of Israeli academic institutions: what the wages of graduates tell about it?
Higher education in Israel expanded rapidly in the last ten years with the opening of academic colleges. This study examines the return on education, in terms of salaries, of first degree graduates from colleges compared with that of university graduates, controlling for cognitive abilities and socioeconomic characteristics. The use of Propensity Score Matching shows that […]
Energy efficiency in Ein Harod Ihud
The work was prepared as part of the Ein Harod Echud project – Kibbutz Yerok. The purpose of the work was to examine ways to save/reduce energy costs in the group and to propose cost-saving measures that include the use of alternative energies, while meeting the criteria of economic viability. The initial report focused on […]
Equity and Efficiency Effects of Different Funding Arrangements for Higher Education: A Calibrated Analysis Applied to Israel
We construct a macro-model of an economy with skilled and unskilled labor, and a centralized system of higher education, calibrate it to the parameters of Israel’s economy and university system, and then use it to simulate different modes of financing higher education so as to gauge their effect on output, distribution and mobility. We find […]
Annual Report 2005-2006 Samuel Neaman Institute
The Annual report for 2005-2006 summarizes the Samuel Neaman Institute’s activities for this year in a wide range of subjects
Investment Policies in Defense R&D Programs
Investment in advanced defense technologies is a prominent characteristic of modern armed forces. The paper examines the optimal investment policy in developing such technologies, accounting for their S-shaped progress profile and the stochastic nature of the R&D process. We show that the optimal investment is a discontinuous function of the available budget, and that its […]