Arye L. Hillman

 

      

 

William Gittes Chair
Professor of Economics

Bar-Ilan University

Editor, European Journal of Political Economy (Elsevier)

Address

Department of Economics
Bar-Ilan University
52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel

Telephone:

·  Office + 972-3-531-8951

·  Dept secretary +972-3-531-8345

·  Home office + 972-9-774-6424

·  Mobile +972-547-901642

Fax: ·  + 972-9-771-5628

Email: hillman@mail.biu.ac.il

 

 

 

 

1. PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

Date of Birth:

13 January 1947

Place of Birth:

Bad Wörishofen, U.S. zone of occupation, Bavaria, Germany

Citizenship:

Israel

 

 

Family:

Sole surviving child of Yehoshua (ז"ל) and Rosa Hillman (ז"ל), whose other children perished at Auschwitz.  Taken by parents from Germany to Australia in 1952.  Married to Jeannette (née Mann) in 1967.  Four children Tamara, Ilana, Nachman Eliyahu, Benjamin.  18 grandchildren to date.

 

Higher Education:

B.A. First Class Honors in Economics and the University Medal, University of Newcastle, Australia 1963-67 (honors thesis advisor Paul Sherwood)

M. Ecs. (Honors), Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia 1968-70 (thesis     advisor Peter Lloyd)

PhD Economics, University of Pennsylvania, USA 1970-73 (thesis advisors        Albert Ando, Wilfred Ethier)

 

Academic family tree:  Ron Jones, to Wilfred Ethier; and Albert Ando

Research field: Political economy and public policy

 

 

2. PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS AND AFFILIATIONS

Primary affiliation

Bar-Ilan University, Israel, Department of Economics, Professor of Economics, from 1984

The William Gittes Chair from 1990

 

Other affiliations

BESA (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies), Bar-Ilan University, Research Fellow

Kiel Institute of World Economics, International Research Fellow

CESifo, Munich, Research Fellow

CEPR, London, Research Fellow

 

Offices and Honors

Albert Winsemius Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, July-August 2000

Fellow, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, February-March 2000

President, European Public Choice Society, 1996-1997

Max-Planck-Prize 1994 for Humanities Sciences, awarded jointly with Heinrich W. Ursprung

The University Medal, University of Newcastle, Australia, 1967

Visiting positions

Princeton University, U.S.A., Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs and Department of Economics, visiting professor of economics, fall semester 2004

International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C., Fiscal Affairs Department, visiting scholar, summer 2000, 2002, 2003

The World Bank, Washington, DC, research fellow, Socialist Economies Reform Unit, 1990

Princeton University, U.S.A., Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs and Department of Economics, visiting professor of economics, spring semester 1989

U.C.L.A., Los Angeles, U.S.A., visiting professor, Department of Economics,1985-87

Australian National University, visiting lecturer, The Faculties, spring 1979

University of Illinois at Urbana, U.S.A., visiting assistant professor, 1973-74

Previous positions

At Bar-Ilan University: Head, Azrieli Institute for Economic Research 1998-2000; Managing director, Economics Research Institute 1990-1992; Associate chairman for economics in the Department of Economics and Business 1982-84; Associate Professor 1982-1984, Senior Lecturer 1980-1982

Tel-Aviv University, Israel, Department of Economics, lecturer 1974-79

University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., Research Fellow, Economics Research Unit (concurrent with graduate studies) 1970-1973

Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Senior Teaching Fellow 1968. Lecturer with tenure 1969-1970

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. INVITED LECURES AND SHORT-TERM VISITS

 

 

Public and plenary lectures

 

CESifo 3rd Workshop on Political Economy, Dresden December 2009. Keynote speaker on “Expressive behavior”.

European Public Choice Society, Athens, April 2009. Plenary lecture on: Expressive behavior in economics and politics: An overview and a perspective

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation: the Israeli Humboldt Club, the Humboldt Kolleg Symposium on “When Science and Humanities Meet”, January 8, 2009. Invited lecture on “The welfare state”

Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, 21 May 2008. Public lecture on: "The work ethic and the welfare state"

Hubei College of Economics, China, October 10, 2007. Public lecture on: “Is social justice achievable?”

Singapore Economic Review annual public lecture. On: “Globalization and social justice”, at Nanyang University, September 20, 2007

44th Anniversary of the Initiation of the Study of Economics at the University of Havana, Hotel Tryp Habana Libre, October 6, 2006. Plenary lecture on: “The elusive quest for social justice”

Mont Pelerin Society General Meetings, Salt Lake City, August 15-20, 2004.  Plenary address on: “Institutions of international decision making: the United Nations”

The World Bank, PREM Conference, Washington DC, April 27-28, 2004.  Debate with Jeffrey Sachs on: “Economic policies for failed states”

European Public Choice Society, Berlin, April, 2004.  Plenary lecture on: “Development failure”

Israel Economic Association, Symposium on 50 years of Economic Research in Israel, April 28, 1999. Invited lecture on: “Political Economy”

European Public Choice Society Annual Conference, Prague, April 1997. Presidential Address: "Political economy and political correctness"

Mont Pelerin Society General Meeting, Cannes, September 1994. Plenary address on "Nostalgia, self-interest, and the transition from socialism"

European Public Choice Society Annual Conference, Portrush, April 1993. Plenary address on: "The transition from socialism: Some comforting thoughts for adherents to a public choice perspective"

Geneva Environmental Meetings, Environment and Development: Conflict and Convergence, May 1992, lecture on "Environmental protection and international trade"

Annual Meetings of the Economic Association of Israel, Tel-Aviv, December 1991. Plenary lecture: "The political economy of international trade policy"

European Public Choice Society Annual Conference, Meersburg, April 1990. Plenary lecture on "International trade policy: Benevolent dictators and optimizing politicians"

Taft Lecture, University of Cincinnati, April 1989. On: “Liberalizing socialist industry"

 

 

Short-term visitor

University of Hamburg, April 2010

University of Göttingen, April 2010

Centre d’ economie de la Sorbonne, Paris I, February 2010. Lectures on public Policy and public finance

University of Freiburg, July 2009. Lectures on Public Policy and public finance

University of Konstanz, June 2009, June-July 1993, June-July 1989, February 1988

University of NSW, Sydney, April-May 2009

Huazhong University of Science and Technology, School of Public Administration, Wuhan, China. October 2002, March 2004, October 2007. Lectures on Public finance and public policy

Hong-Kong University of Science and Technology, October 1 - 7, 2007

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. September 2007; July-August 2000

European Central Bank, Frankfurt, July 2007

Humboldt University, Berlin, Lectures on social justice, July 2007

Wissenschaftszentrum, Berlin, Market Processes and Governance Research Unit, July 2007, October 2007

Kiel Institute Summer School on Economic Policy. Lectures on “Reforming the Welfare State: Balancing Efficiency and Equity”, July 2007

University of Havana, summer school in conjunction with Humboldt University. Lectures on Public finance and public policy, October 3-15 2006.

Faculty of Economics, Cambridge University, U.K., February 2005

Summer School in Public Policy. G-17 Institute, Belgrade, July 2004. Lectures on “Public finance and public policy.

International Summer School, Center for Banking, Finance, and International Economics, Podgorica, Montenegro. Lectures on “Public finance and public choice”, Herceg-Novi, Montenegro, June 2002. Lectures on International and public finance”, Budva, July 2001

International Summer School, Center for Liberal Democratic Studies, Belgrade, Serbia. Lectures on Public finance and public policy, Petrovac, Montenegro, July 2000

University of Catania, Sicily, October 1997, April 2000. Lectures on Public finance and public policy

Kobe University, Japan, February-March 2000

New School of Economics, Moscow, January-February 1995. Lectures on “Public finance” and “International trade”.

University of Konstanz, February 1988, June-July 1989, June-July 1993

Kiel Institute of World Economics, March 1993. Lectures on “The political economy of trade policy”.

Karl Marx (now Budapest) University of the Economic Sciences, November 1988

NBER, Cambridge, U.S.A., Summer Institute in International Studies, 1982, 1984, 1987

Centre of Policy Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, summer 1981, 1982, 1984

Australian National University, Canberra, Research School of Social Studies, summer 1979, 1980

 

 

 

 

 

4. EDITORIAL POSITIONS

 

Editor

European Journal of Political Economy (Elsevier), since 1994

Other editorial affiliations

Associate editor for Political Economy and Institutions, imp-WG: Economics. The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-journal, Kiel Institute of World Economics, from 2006

Australian Economic Papers, editorial board, since 2004

International Advisory Board, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, since 1995

Editorial Board, The Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, since 1995

 

Previous

Advisory Board, Encyclopedia of Public Choice, 1999

Associate Editor, Economics and Politics, 1990-1999

 

 

 

 

5. CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

 

Annual Silvaplana workshop on political economy

Since 1989, with Heinrich Ursprung and others

Recent programs: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

 

Other conferences

Principal organizer

“Economic Performance, Economic Policy, and Political Culture”, at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, with Otto Swank, 1999

“The Changing Role of Government in an Integrated World Economy”, Bar-Ilan University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and CEPR, with Mario Blejer, 1997

European Public Choice Society Annual Conference, Bar-Ilan University and Tiberias, Israel, 1996

“Markets and Politicians”, Bar-Ilan University, 1989

 

Program committee

European Public Choice Society Meetings, Helsinki, April 2006

International Institute of Public Finance, Korea, August 2005

European Economic Association Annual Congress, Venice, August 2002

International Institute of Public Finance, Linz, August 2001

European Public Choice Society Meetings, Paris, April 2001

European Economic Association Annual Congress, Berlin, September 1998

 

 

6. TEACHING AND RESEARCH SUPERVISION

 

Courses taught

Public finance and public policy (public economics, public choice)

International trade (international economics, the political economy of international trade policy)

Microeconomic theory

 

Supervision of PhD theses

Yoav Zeif, 1999                            Three essays in international trade policy and income distribution

Shirit Katav-Herz, 2002                Social norms, labor standards, and international consequences

Ronen Bar-El, 2006                      Essays on institutions and public finance

Odelia Rosin, 2008                       The economic consequences of obesity

Yariv Weltzman, 2010                   The persistence of ineffective aid

 

In progress:

Rezina Sultana                             Essays in the political economy of economic development

Mor Zahavi                                  Essays in behavioral political economy

 

 

 

 

7. POLICY RELATED

 

International Monetary Fund, Fiscal Affairs Department

Ethics, governance, and development failure, 2000

User prices and basic education in low-income countries, 2002

Governance, growth and fiscal-policy transmission mechanisms in low-income countries 2003

The World Bank

Adjustment to end of CMEA trading arrangement 1990, incentives for private sector development 1993 (Hungary)

International trade policy regime 1992 (Turkmenistan)

Choice of the tax regime 1992, incentives for private sector development 1993-1994, financing government in transition 1994-95 (Bulgaria)

Foreign trade regime 1993 (Baltics)

Foreign trade subsidies, directed credits 1993 (Russia)

World Development Report Background Paper 1995-96: "Rents and the transition" (with Alan Gelb and Heinrich Ursprung)

Enterprise development, 2002 (Uzbekistan)

GATT/World Trade Organization

International trade policy and environmental interests 1991

Trade, technology, and social marginalization 1998

The European Union

Economic policy in Hungary 1989

The Government of Israel: Office of the Prime Minister

Position paper, The economy of Israel: Misinformation or disinformation? 1992

Forum for discussion of economic policy options, 1996-1997

 

 

 

 

8. RESEARCH

 

My principal research theme is political economy, which I define as the interface between economic and political decision making. I study public policy and the economic consequences of political decisions.

·        My interest in public policy began in the field of international trade with a quest to understand why governments prevent people from trading with one another, and thereby depart from the efficiency of free trade. I proposed that departures from free trade were explained by political benefits that political decision makers obtained through the income-redistribution consequences of protectionist policies. This explanation for protectionist policies contrasted with second-best efficiency arguments for departure from free trade that were advocated in the literature.

·        Trade liberalization, links between international trade policy and environmental interests, and governments’ international-migration policies are also explainable in political-economy terms.

·        Rent creation and rent seeking, and rent extraction, are part of a political economy perspective on public policy. My research on rents and rent seeking has paralleled investigations of political incentives and public policy.

·        I have studied the political economy of failure of economic development. Empirical research shows that aid has been ineffective in promoting economic growth in low-income countries. More generally, development objectives have not been achieved in many low-income countries, where the poor population has remained poor. A political-economy perspective explains development failure in terms of the personal objectives of rulers and ruling elites in poor countries. 

·        I have studied the transition from socialism, which has also been very much a topic of political economy. Changing institutions and the introduction of private property rights through privatization changed personal opportunities and economic and political incentives. I was fortunate in having had the opportunity to visit many post-communist countries as an advisor for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

·        My recent research focus has been on what I call behavioral political economy. Expressive behavior influences economic and political decisions: public policy is affected through policy traps that can arise when people expressively support public policies that they would veto if they could.

 

My textbook Public Finance and Public Policy: Responsibilities and Limitations of Government (Cambridge University Press, 2003, 2nd edition 2009; English, Chinese, and Japanese) provides a political economy perspective on the choice between markets and decisions of government.

 

Published research is grouped according to the following categories.

 

 

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

 

BOOKS

 

 

RESEARCH PAPERS

 

1. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS

1.1   Political economy of trade policy

1.1.1     The political economy of protection

1.1.2     Trade liberalization and globalization

1.1.3     The environment and trade policy

1.1.4     Market structure as a determinant of protection

1.1.5     The multinational firm and foreign investment

1.1.6     Protection as insurance

1.1.7     Trade embargoes

1.1.8     Incentives for illegal activity

1.1.9     Surveys

 

1.2   Comparative advantage and trade

1.2.1     True and “revealed” comparative advantage

1.2.2     The factor content of international trade

1.2.3     Departure from the law of one price

1.2.4     Domestic monopoly and dumping

1.2.5     Trade diversion as a prisoners’ dilemma

 

1.3   The political economy of international migration

1.3.1     The political economy of migration policy

1.3.2     Why do people emigrate?

1.3.3     Illegal immigration

1.3.4     Host-country benefits

 

2. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND PUBLIC POLICY

2.1          Behavioral political economy

2.2          Rent creation and rent seeking

2.2.1     The social costs of rent seeking

2.2.2     Institutions and the creation of rents

2.2.3     Survey of the rent seeking literature

2.3          Economic development and development failure

2.4          Paternalist policies

2.5          Public safety

2.6          Clubs, privilege, and exclusion

 

3. SOCIALISM AND TRANSITION

3.1  Surveys

3.2   Rents and transition

3.3   Privatization

3.4   International trade policy in transition

3.5   Public finance in transition

3.6   Other aspects of transition

3.6.1     The rule of law

3.6.2     Economic statistics in the transition

 

4. SHORT PAPERS, COMMENTS, POLICY PAPERS

4.1 The economy of Israel

4.2 Other policy papers

4.3 Other papers

4.4 Comments and notes