The Governor of the Bank of Israel, Dr. Karnit Flug, today announced her decision to appoint Prof. Michel Strawczynski as Director of the Research Department at the Bank of Israel, to replace Prof. Nathan Sussman, who will be stepping down after six years in the position. The decision was reached after the Search Committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, interviewed several candidates for the position and submitted its recommendations to the Governor. Prof. Strawczynski will begin his role in the beginning of October.
Michel Strawczynski, 55, has a Bachelors degree in Economics and Accounting from “Universite de la Republique” in Uruguay, Masters (magna cum laude) and Doctorate degrees, both in Economics, from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and was a post-doctoral fellow at MIT in the US. Since 2012, Strawczynski has served as an associate professor on the faculties for Economics and Public Policy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and over the years served as an external lecturer at several academic institutions in Israel. At the beginning of his professional career, Strawczynski worked at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructures and at an energy consulting firm. In 1993 he joined the Bank of Israel Research Department as an Economist, and in 2000–11 he served as Deputy Director of the Research Department and then as Head of the Macro and Policy Division at the Research Department. His main specialization over the years has been in various areas of the Israeli economy, including fiscal policy, taxation, transfer payments, and growth. Prof. Strawczynski was a member of several government work teams in the areas of taxation, economic statistics, was a member of the Alalouf Committee for dealing with poverty, headed the economic team during the process of Israel’s ascension to the OECD, and headed the Joint Research Committee on the Earned Income Tax Credit (Negative Income Tax) program.
In his positions at the Research Department, Strawczynski had a central role in the work of economic consulting to the Government, in preparing the Research Department’s inputs to monetary discussions—with an emphasis on real economic activity—and in editing research papers and the Department’s leading publications. After he stepped down from his position at the Bank of Israel, he served as Acadamic Director of the civil service cadet program, Head of the Economics and Society program at the Van Leer Institute, and continued to serve as a co-editor of Israel Economic Review.
Governor of the Bank of Israel, Dr. Karnit Flug, said, “The Bank of Israel Research Department has its hands full with work—conducting macroeconomic analysis for making monetary policy decisions, providing economic advice to the government, formulating reforms in the financial system and maintaining its stability, and in bolstering the research and professional knowledge at the Bank of Israel. Michel has considerable knowledge, broad professional and academic experience, extensive familiarity with the Bank of Israel and the Israeli economy, and a strong desire to contribute from his abilities to the Bank and to Israel’s economy. I thank Michel for his willingness to take upon himself this important role and I wish him much success".