עברית

Prof. Rafi Melnick

Ph.D. in Economics, UC Berkeley

President, Reichman University

  • Prof. Rafi Melnick holds a doctoral degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley (1979) and he earned his Bachelor's degree in Economics and Statistics and his Master's degree in Economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

    Currently, Prof. Melnick serves as the president of Reichman University and as a professor both at the Tiomkin School of Economics and at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at Reichman University. Prof. Melnick served as Vice President for Academic Affairs twice, and he is the former Dean of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy. Moreover, he founded the Tiomkin School of Economics at Reichman University.

    Prof. Melnick is an expert in Israeli economy – his publications address the fields of monetary economics, the Israeli economy and Applied Econometrics. He developed the "Melnick State of the Economy Index", which was designed to detect in real time, the level and the intensity of turning points in economic activity in Israel. Previously, he was a member of the Monetary Committee of the Bank of Israel, served as
    Deputy Director of Research at the Bank of Israel, was a lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a visiting professor at the universities of Boston and Davis – California. In addition, Prof. Melnick was a former member of the Advisory Committee of the Economic Council at the Prime Minister's Office, the Advisory Committee to the Minister of Finance and Chair of the Macroeconomic Forum of the director general of the Treasury and a member in the Committee for Social and Economic Change.
    At present he is a member of the Investment Committee of the Clal Insurance Company. He used to serve as Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Clal Insurance Company, the Migdal Insurance Company Ltd. and Magen Ltd., as an economic consultant to Bank Leumi, as a member of the Board of Directors of Psagot-Ofek Securities and Investment Ltd. and a member of their investment committee, while serving as a research fellow at the Center for Social Policy Studies Research in Israel.

  •  1.      "The Property Income Share and the Effect of Capital Risk on Consumption", (1980), Economics Letters, 6, 335-338.


    2.      "Economic and Econometric Analysis of the Tomato Market in Israel", (1983), with H. Shalit, In Zvi Sussman and Moshe Felber eds. Israel Economic Papers 1981, 283-292 (Hebrew).


    3.      "The Interaction between Inflation and Monetary Aggregates in Israel", (1983), with E.A. Brezis and L. Leiderman, Bank of Israel Economic Review, 55, 48-60.


    4.      "Estimation of the Annual Consumption Sector", (1983), with D. Elkayam, Bank of Israel Economic Review, 56, 33-66.


    5.      "The Government's Revenue from Money Creation and the Inflationary Effects of a Decline in the Rate of Growth of GNP", (1984), with M. Sokoler, Journal of Monetary Economics, 13, 225-236.


    6.      "Inflationary Expectations in Israel: A Multiple Indicators Approach", (1985), with D. Gottlieb and S. Piterman, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 3, 112-117.


    7.      "Estimating the Market for Tomatoes", (1985), with H. Shalit, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 67.


    8.      "Two Issues in the Demand for Money in Israel 1970-1981", (1985), Bank of Israel Economic Review, 60, 35-49.


     9.      "Prices, Wages and Import Prices in Israel: 1970-1983", (1988), Journal of Applied Econometrics, 3, 53-67.


    10.    "The Demand for Money in Argentina 1978-1987: Before and After the Austral Program", (1990), Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 8, 427-434.


    11.    "Forecasting Short run Inflation in Israel 1983-1987: An Evaluation", (1993), Bank of Israel Economic Review, 66, 1-17.


    12.    "Measurement of Business Fluctuations in Israel", (1993), with Y. Golan, Bank of Israel Economic Review, 67, 1-20.


    13.    "Financial Services, Cointegration, and the Demand for Money in Israel", (1995), Journal of Money Credit and Banking, Vol. 27, No. 1, 140-153.


    14.    “Forecasting Short-Run Business Fluctuations in Israel”, Bank of Israel Economic Review, 69 (1995), 3-30.


    15.    "The Macroeconomic Effects of Financial Innovation: The Case of Israel", (1996), with E. Yashiv, In M. I. Blejer, Z. Eckstein, Z. Hercowitz and L. Leiderman eds. Financial Factors in Economic Stabilization and Growth, 220-249. Cambridge University Press.


    16.    “High Inflation Dynamics: Short-Run Accommodation and Long Run Steady States”, (1997), with M. Bruno. Research Department, Bank of Israel.


    17.    “Immigration and Growth in Israel 1990-1995: Plan versus Reality”, (1998), with A. Ben-Bassat. The Economic Quarterly, 45, 3-4, (Hebrew).


    18.    “Inflation and Disinflation by Steps in Israel”, (1999), with N. Liviatan. In L. Leiderman ed. Inflation and Disinflation in Israel, Research Department, Bank of Israel.


    19.    “The Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on Productivity in Israel”, (1999), with Z. Hercowitz and Y. Lavi, Bank of Israel Economic Review, 72, 103-124.


    20.     “Program for Economic Growth in Israel”, (1999), The Center for Social Policy Research in Israel. Jerusalem. 


    21.    “The Cost of the Recession”, (1999), The Economic Quarterly, 46, 4, (Hebrew).


    22.    “Business Cycles in Israel”, (2002). The Economic Quarterly. 49, 2, (Hebrew).


    23.    “The social and Economic Strategy in Israel”, (2002), with Gad Shifron, The Center for Social and Economic Research, (Hebrew).


    24.    "Business Cycles, Fiscal and Monetary Policy”. (2002), The Economic Quarterly. 49, 3, (Hebrew).


    25.    “A Fiscal Consolidation Plan in Israel 2003-2012”, (2003), The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, (Hebrew).


    26.    “The Fiscal and Monetary Trap:  The Israeli Economy on its Way to the Second Lost Decade”, (2003), The Center for Social and Economic Research. (Hebrew).


    27.    "Should Israel Join the EMU?", (2003), IEPN Israeli European Policy Network, Friedich Ebert Stiftung, Tel-Aviv.


    28.    “Fiscal Policy in a Period of Crisis”, (2004), In Herzog, I. And Nathanson, R. What is the Answer? Economic and Social Solutions for an Economy in Crisis, The Israeli Institute of Economic and Social Research. Tel Aviv, (Hebrew).


    29.    “Financial Markets and Terrorism", (2004), with R. Eldor, European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 20, No. 2, 367 - 386.


    30.    “A Peek into the Governor’s Chamber: The Israeli Case”. (2005), Israel Economic Review, Vol.3 No.1, 1 - 21.


    31.    “The Stock Market as a Leading Indicator of the Israeli Economy”, (2006) with Rafi Eldor, The Economic Quarterly. 49, 3, (Hebrew).


    32.    "Terrorism and Resources Allocation”, (2007) with Rafi Eldor, In The Integration and Management of Traumatized People After Terrorist Attacks, Volume 15, NATO Security through Science Series: Human and Societal Dynamics.  Editor: Center of Excellence Against Terrorism Ankara-Turkey (COE-DAT), February 2007.


    33.    "Israel's Economy 1986-2008", (2009) with Yosef Mealem, M. G. Bard and D. Nachmias eds. Israel Studies: An Anthology. Jewish Virtual Library Publications.



    34. "The Impact of Terrorism and Anti-Terrorism on Capital Markets", (2009) with  Rafi Eldor, Shmuel Hauser and Abraham Levi, in New Terrorism Issues, Authors: Lucy S. MacLeod and Olivia C. Thomson, Nova Publishers, pp.77-90.


    35. "Small Investment and Large Returns: Terrorism and the Media", (2010) with Rafi Eldor, European Economic Review 54, 968-973


    36. “The Conquest of Israeli Inflation and Current Policy Dilemmas”, (2015), with Alexander Cukierman, in Maintaining Price Stability: The Bank of Israel's Sixth Decade, Offenbacher A. (ed.), pp. 13-62.


    37. “The Time-Varying Degree of Inflation Expectations Anchoring”, (2016) with Till Strohsal and Dieter Nautz, Journal of Macroeconomics 48, 62–71.


    38. “Measuring Unobserved Expected Inflation”, (2016) International Finance 19:1,  2–22.


    39. "Disinflation in steps and the Phillips curve: Israel 1986–2015", (2017) with Till Strohsal, Journal of Macroeconomics 53, 145–161