Weird Economics

OECD: Settlements weaken Israeli economy has been published at Ynet.  I can't locate it at the OCED site. Ah, here it is (thanks to EoZ).

Previously we've had this, an OECD report that Israel is a poor, divided country

Report presented to socio-economic cabinet says Jewish state suffers from social inequalities, will be 'most poor' member of organization. Findings indicate biggest social gap in haredi, non-Jewish sectors on January 19, 2010,

And in July this year we had this

OECD report finds Israel as top country for venture capital investment


Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report on entrepreneurship finds that while Israel ranks poorly in terms of bureaucratic obstacles, venture capital is relatively easy to obtain there.

Okay, I'm not good at economics, but...
 
...the report claims that

The inclusion of east Jerusalem, West Bank settlements and the Golan Heights in Israel's statistic figures reduces the per capita income and increases inequality, according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

But, hey, if the Jewish communities didn't exist, would it be cheaper to have another 700,000+ people living within the Green Line or not?  Can they prove that?  Ot wopuld the sittuation be worse?

The study's main findings inlcude an amazing population figure of almost 800,000 Jews across the Green Line, if the Golan Heights is included:

Israel's population within the Green Line included 6.7 million residents in 2009. An additional 440,000 residents lived in east Jerusalem, 290,000 in West Bank settlements, and 41,000 in the Golan Heights. From 1997 to 2009, the east Jerusalem population grew by 40% and the settlement population rose by almost 100% - at a pace of 8% a year. The Israeli population within the Green Line grew at a pace of only 2.2% a year during that period.

The report deals with soemthing called "the economic inequality in the territories" and claims it

is 10% higher compared to the inequality in income within the Green Line – and in both cases it is one of the highest among OECD members.

Inequality compared to...what?


Further,

The poverty rate in Israel, both within the Green Line and in the territories, is the second highest among developed countries – after Mexico.

Wait, does that inlcude Arabs or only Jews?  If only Jews, well, are we out in YESHA rich on the, excuse me, hog or not?


Furthermore,

The inclusion of the settlements and east Jerusalem adds about 4% to Israel's gross domestic product, but reduces the GDP per capita by a significant rate of 6.5% a year. "Without east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the settlement, the GDP per capita within the Green Line would have been 6.5% higher. The post-1967 territories pushed Israel's GDP per capita down," the OECD rules

I can't figure that out.  Our industries and agricultuire produce and contribute a lot.  Of course, ridding Israel's export economy of Gaza vegetables wasn't too smart.

This claim

In the budget year of 2007, the Israeli government spent some NIS 12.5 billion (NIS 14.5 billion in 2011 prices) on the West Bank settlements, Golan Heights and the annexed part of east Jerusalem – a 10% addition to the State Budget. In addition, NIS 5.5 billion were invested that year in the settlements and east Jerusalem, NIS 2.4 billion of them on housing construction.

is again, lacking a comparable figure if all the population plus schools, industries, et al. were to be figured in as all within the Green Line.

More importantly, economy also drives population diffusement.  YESHA is the most natural - and legal - territory to develop new communities.

Did I mention that the reporter, Sever Plocker, is a veteran of HaShomer HaTzair and began his economic journallism at Al-HaMishmar, the defunct Marxist political sheet of Mapam?

And that he's not an economist by training? (k/t=SP)

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UPDATE

Palestinian Drive to Pursue Statehood at UN May Aggravate Economic Plight

...Palestinians, mired in a financial crisis that forced an emergency 50 percent cut in public salaries, may find that pursuing statehood at the United Nations next month puts them in worse condition.

Israel, which opposes the UN bid without a return first to peace talks, collects about $1.2 billion in fees each year for the Palestinian Authority. It has withheld the money in the past during disputes and to pressure the Palestinians. Both the U.S. House and Senate have called on President Barack Obama to reduce the Palestinians’ annual $500 million in foreign aid if they proceed at the UN’s September meeting.

“Even if statehood is declared and receives broad acceptance at the UN, it’s not clear that it can be implemented over the objections of Israel and the U.S.,” said Jane Kinninmont, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House research institute in London. “There could be a real problem if people have high expectations” of what the UN effort will achieve.

...Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz delayed transfer of the custom fees in May -- almost $100 million for the month -- until Palestinian officials offered proof the money wouldn’t go to the Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and European Union.

Two months later, Fayyad announced that the authority was in a financial crisis and he would have to slash June paychecks by 50 percent for 151,000 civil-service employees. In a July 3 news conference at his office in Ramallah, Fayyad singled out Arab donors as the key missing link, saying only Oman, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates had fulfilled foreign-aid commitments.

Since then, Saudi Arabia sent $30.8 million to help bridge the gap, representing two months of its total annual pledge. That enabled the authority to pay full salaries for July so that families wouldn’t have to reduce their holiday spending during the holy month of Ramadan, according to Fayyad, who said budget cuts would have to be found elsewhere. The Saudi contribution leaves about $228 million from Arab sources still uncollected and the rest of the June salaries still unpaid, according to the prime minister’s figures.

The economic problems “are so deep and rooted that it will be very difficult to overcome them in the near future,” said Nasser Abdel Kareem, an economist at Birzeit University in the West Bank. “Government spending is the core of the Palestinian economy. Without it, the economy is close to collapse.”

Roughly a quarter of the authority’s $3.7 billion annual budget comes from the U.S., Arab and other foreign aid, according to Accountant-General Yousef Zummor. About 44 percent of revenue that makes up the rest of the budget comes from the fees the authority needs Israel’s cooperation to receive.

Oh, and someone I admire commented pithily:

Worthless politicized crapola.The fact that they are obsessing about "gini coefficients" shows they do not know what they are talking about.

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