Shomron Center for Economic Policy Research

In Search for an efficient Institutions

October 8, 2023
by Moshe
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Time to destroy the Idol of “Purity of Arms”

It is a really hard time, marked by numerous horrific events. However, it is a perfect time for us to critically examine the concept of “Purity of Arms” and recognize its grave flaws.

The recent failure of the Israeli Army to protect fellow Jews represents an awful moral failure. Among all the moral failures, the failure of the Jewish Army to safeguard its own people is the most profound.
Causing collateral damage or incurring losses among individuals exploited by the enemy as “human shields,” regardless of the scale, should not be regarded as a moral failure.
It is important to note that, even from a formal standpoint, Israel has never formally obligated itself to minimize losses among “human shields” or other collateral damage. Israel ratified the Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War on August 12, 1949. The Convention clearly places the responsibility for civilian lives on the side that uses human shields for defensive purposes, rather than on the attacking side. The party deploying its forces among civilian populations bears the responsibility for any resulting losses. Israel’s Military Advocate General’s Corps and certain elements within the judiciary, driven by far-left ideology, attempt to place the blame on our soldiers and officers, which is simply against the law.
However, the most critical point to acknowledge is the state of military “justice” in Israel and the false prophets who promote the “Purity of Arms” concept.
Jewish children’s and Jewish women’s blood and their damaged Honor – are the only substances really damaging the Jewish warriors’ honor and real purity of arms.
This is a matter of great concern that we must fully comprehend and address.


September 27, 2023
by Moshe
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Why does the welfare state often fail to protect people on the street?

In Section 2, Chapter II of our book “Socialism Khaziri” (Pig Socialism), titled “A Good Policeman and a Lazy Policeman,” we delve into the numerous opportunities the welfare state presents to law enforcement agencies’ officers. In old times policeman was obliged to hunt dangerous criminals, and patrol streets, in order to “serve and protect” the citizens. The Times have changed and Government priorities have changed. 

Now, instead of focusing solely on apprehending murderers, robbers, and rapists, police officers often find themselves engaged in tasks such as monitoring social media for rudeness, fostering connections with society, and participating in various forms of political activism in the name of inclusivity.
A recent example illustrates this point vividly. The British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, raised a question regarding whether police officers should prioritize solving crimes over activism: “paid [attention] to solve crimes, not dance with drag queens”. Almost immediately, her inquiry faced an objection from the president of the Police Superintendents’ Association – Paul Fotheringham. Fotheringham expressed a preference for dancing with individuals in women’s attire, not chasing dangerous criminals.
It becomes evident that a state (namely – welfare state) cannot effectively serve and protect its citizens while simultaneously attempting to manage every aspect of their lives. Police forces inevitably adapt to prevailing circumstances and ultimately will be guided by incentives, as traditional values, and moral principles rooted in Sinai Revelation, once held in high regard, have fallen out of favor, and “conscience was hanged long ago”.

P.S. Suella Braverman who challenged the police’s miserable failures ultimately got fired by ‘moderate’ prime minister Sunak. So police officers are now free to dance with drag queens, attack peaceful right-winger meetings, and tolerate left-wingers’ violence:

“In an opinion column for The Times, the Home Secretary accused the police of the police of “playing favorites” with how it handles controversial protests by showing a more lenient attitude to left-wing protesters than their right-wing counterparts.

In the piece, she compared pro-Palestinian demonstrations to Protestant marches in Northern Ireland – comments that were labeled “wholly offensive” and “ignorant” by one former Tory cabinet minister.

Critics – from both opposition parties and fellow Tory MPs – called Ms Braverman’s comments “offensive” and “inflammatory”.

September 21, 2023
by Moshe
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Invisible Conflict of Interest

Receiving funding for research from tobacco or oil companies and subsequently reaching the conclusion, based on project results, that smoking has health benefits or that offshore oil production carries no spill risks is undeniably problematic. Hence, it has become customary to expect authors to provide a statement of potential conflicts of interest in addition to presenting concrete evidence and arguments.

Accepting funding from a company specializing in the development of “effective and safe” magical vaccines and subsequently affirming the absolute safety and exceptional efficacy of these vaccines can be highly beneficial for society, especially when its interests are represented by government officials with purely altruistic intentions. While it is advisable to include a conflict-of-interest statement in such publications, it may not be deemed strictly necessary.

However, what sort of conflict of interest could possibly emerge for an author who consistently receives grants from government-funded sources (financed by taxpayers) and, based on research outcomes, advocates for expanded discretionary powers for virtuous, angel-like civil servants, as well as increased funding for these dedicated individuals and the government-managed funds they oversee? The prevailing consensus among the majority of colleagues is that there is hardly a hint of a conflict of interest in the aforementioned scenario.

This perspective is challenged in our recently published article: Yanovskiy Moshe, Socol Yehoshua. The conflict of interest that is so grave that we all prefer to ignore it? Semestre Económico (2023), 12(2), 78–91. https://doi.org/10.26867/se.2023.v12i2.153, the Supplemental materials to the article are also available.

September 12, 2023
by Moshe
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The case for Family and marriage privatization

Spanis bilingual Journal Derecho y religión (The Law and Religion), .No 18, 2023 (frankly speaking – it is a scientific equivalent of Indian reservation) has published two important for us articles in defense of Family and Marriage institutions from governmental assault.

Communists and socialists are traditionally hostile to these institutions preventing human beings from atomized existence and, therefore, harming the case of establishment of total governmental control over society. Marx and Engels openly and proudly targeted family since the 1848 Communist Manifesto. They promised to eliminate family by means of compulsory (brainwashing) education. This idea was inherited and broadly applied by Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and bloodthirsty socialist dictators of the XX century.

The welfare states use the same approach in their attempts to weaken and eventually eliminate the principal competitor (rival) in care for poor and elderly people, in education, and in healthcare. The family and Civil society based on institutions family and marriage do all these things much better and so can not be tolerated.

Our first article “Does Government Crowd Out the Family?” – presents a short historical review of the government’s attempts to crowd Family institution out and interprets the decline in marriage and birth rates in developed countries as a measurable outcome of Unlimited Government policies. (See also Reference materials by Yanovskiy, Shestakov, Letunova to this article).

The second article “Marital rape institution vs. Judeo-Christian Tradition” shows why modern “Marital rape” institution is incompatible with honest and impartial “Due Process of Law” while perfect as a weapon for political or business rivals annihilation.

Access to both articles is restricted, so we could send the text upon request.

August 28, 2023
by Moshe
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IEA report citing our article

First and foremost, the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) founded in 1955 by Fridrich von Hayek is alive and well – it is really great news for us and for all freedom-loving people.

The backers of IEA exhibit resilience and courage, standing in stark contrast to individuals like Mr. Arthur Dantchik. Mr. Dantchik, regrettably, forsook his commitment to freedom and capitulated to the far left, withdrawing funding from the Kohelet Center in Israel. This withdrawal came about due to the center’s involvement in shaping a moderate reform within the judiciary, a move that profoundly vexed those on the political Left.

The IEA’s recent publication, the ‘Nanny State Index 2023,’ elucidates the relative evolution of personal freedom in contrast to the coercive encroachment of expansive governmental oversight across various European nations.

Contained within the freshly minted report titled ‘Did Lockdowns Work? Assessing the Efficacy of Covid Restrictions,’ disseminated by the IEA, the authors reference our own article, Are lockdowns effective in managing pandemics? This article, featured in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022), has now garnered its eighth citation.

August 9, 2023
by Moshe
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Even Big Business finally discovered: they are not welcomed by CCP

So, It is time to leave Communist China…

Blomberg Agency has informed on record-breaking fall in Foreign Direct Investments in Communist China
It reminds our 14 years old paper noting that Deng Xiaoping’s protection for foreign investors built on the basis artificial intra-CPC system of checks and balances had collapsed, so the Business climate in China absorbed a blow causing irreversible degradation. Just 14 years after Big Business ultimately got that they should gradually prepare their exit from the more and more hostile China Communist environment.

Our pretty old forecast.

For some details see business media notes.

July 27, 2023
by Moshe
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Long shadow of historical events

The failed socialist ideology is reemerging, finding resonance among “caring” social bureaucrats (Friedman, 1994) coalescing with power-hungry Left politicians. This resurgence is evident in the implementation of new, burdensome regulations and a significant decline in the quality of private property protection (evidently manifested in measures like Proposition 47, which effectively prevents the prosecution of thefts below $950 in California, the growing burden of ecological end “anti-discrimination” legislation). As socialism gains ground, the world becomes increasingly inhospitable to independent private businesses.
In the face of this trend, one might wonder if it is still possible to find a business-friendly environment. Studying local rules and rulers (institutions and policies respectively), can shed light on the situation and provide factual data for making informed choices.
Understanding the local institutions and policies can help entrepreneurs make informed decisions, seeking places where they can operate with greater autonomy, protection of property rights, and tolerable business environments.

Institutions matter as well as the historical background thereof

National and regional differences are often deeply rooted in history. Major historic events and phenomena can have very long shadows so sometimes differences they made last for centuries. It is true for Northern America and some other countries (European colonists’ mortality rate as a measure of adaptability of European traditions/institutions in the Western offshoots – Acemoglu, Johnson, Robinson, 2001). It is true for Austria (Ochsner. Roesel, 2017). It is true for Romania (Mendelski, Libman, 2014). It is true for Russia (see Mau, Yanovskiy, 2002 and more our relevant papers on regional studies). These differences could be of incomparably higher significance than famous legal origin and differences between common law and civil law in established democracies (La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, 2008). That is why analysis of institutions shaping actors’ (households, firms, elected and unelected governmental officials) incentives should be built on the basis of relevant studies of Economic and Political History.
So, our methodology (Yanovskiy, Ginker, 2017; Yanovskiy, Shulgin, 2013) exploits a range of indicators from the past (like elections and court statistics in 1990-ties – early 2000-ties in Russia) and currently observable (visible manifestations of independent civil activities in the same regions of Russia, to say nothing on other post-socialist countries). These insights can be particularly useful when standard tools like election outcomes are marred by widespread falsifications and even public opinion polls are compromised by fear.
This methodology holds even greater promise for countries and territories where elections are conducted more or less honestly, where the media market is more or less competitive, and where there are minimal Habeas Corpus-type protections against arbitrary arrests.

In contemporary times, even reputable experts evaluating institutional qualities, especially economic freedom, often overlook widespread government assaults on freedom of contract under the pretext of “anti-discrimination” or “positive” discrimination. Few economists nowadays distinguish between truly immoral and illegal governmental discrimination and private discrimination (Block, 2010; Sowell, 2019)—both of which infringe upon personal freedoms (“to make it apply to every act of discrimination which a person may see fit to make as to the guests he will entertain, or as to the people he will take into his coach or cab or car, or admit to his concert or theatre, or deal with in other matters of intercourse or business.” – Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883)), freedom of contract, etc. By learning important lessons from modern history, we aim to stay alert to significant developments in this crucial realm of regulations.

Considering the lasting consequences of significant historical events can help businesses make more informed choices when selecting a location for establishment and operation. Our expertise lies in guiding you to avoid excessive risks and ensuring a smoother journey for your enterprise.

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.” American Economic Review, 91 (5): 1369-1401. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.5.1369
Block Walter. (2010). The Case for Discrimination. Auburn, Alabama. Ludwig von Mises Institute. https://mises.org/library/case-discrimination

Friedman Milton. (1994). Cooperation Between Capital-Rich and Labor-Rich Countries. http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/cooperation-capitalrich-laborrich-countries-part-1/ “By now everybody agrees with two propositions. Proposition one: “Socialism is a failure”. Proposition two: “Capitalism is a success”. To judge from what goes on in Washington, the conclusion that has been drawn is: “Therefore, the U.S. needs more socialism”.
La Porta R., Lopez-de-Silanes F., Shleifer A. The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins. Journal of Economic Literature. 2008. Vol. 46. No. 2. P. 285–332. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.46.2.285
Mau V., Yanovskiy K. (2002) «Political and Legal Factors of Economic Growth in Russian Regions” “Post-Communist Studies”, Vol.14, No. 3, 2002; https://doi.org/10.1080/1463137022000013403
Mendelski, M., Libman, A. Demand for litigation in the absence of traditions of rule of law: an example of Ottoman and Habsburg legacies in Romania. Const Polit Econ 25, 177–206 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-014-9158-y
Mises Ludwig von. (1949). Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. Edition: Auburn, Alabama, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1998 has been used for citation, 1st published by Yale University Press, 1949.
Ochsner Christian, Roesel Felix. (2017). Activated History. The Case of the Turkish Sieges of Vienna. CESifo Working Paper Series No. 6586. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3023816
Sowell Thomas. (2019). Discrimination and Disparities. NY: Basic Books.
Yanovskiy Moshe, Ginker Tim. (2017). A Proposal for a More Objective Measure of De Facto Constitutional Constraints” Journal of Constitutional Political Economy, Volume 28, Issue 4, December 2017 pp. 311-320 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-017-9242-1
Yanovskiy K., Shulgin S., (2013) “Institutions, Democracy and Growth in the very Long Run” Acta Oeconomica, Volume 63 Issue 4 2013 pp. 493-510 https://doi.org/10.1556/AOecon.63.2013.4.5. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24857649

June 25, 2023
by Moshe
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The military capacity of Ukraine in the Long Run. Scenarios and Factors

The article ‘Probability of Development of Nuclear Weapons by Ukraine. Scenarios and Factors‘ have been published by ‘Obrana a Strategie’ (Defence and Strategy) – Czech Military Journal (Volume 23 Number 1 – June 2023).

The threat of the use of nuclear weapons by the aggressor is a significant factor in the ongoing war. Also in future, the Ukrainian government (any leadership) will be interested in its own nuclear weapons at least as long as Russia is ruled by an ill-predictable authoritarian regime. Nuclear arms could be helpful for Ukraine both for deterrence and to increase the attractiveness of the country as a military ally. However, due to many economic, political, and legal factors discussed in the paper, the likelihood of development of Ukraine’s own nuclear arsenal should be considered as extremely low. The unlikely scenario, in which Ukraine could nevertheless develop such weapons, would require such a significant improvement of political and economic institutions, that the risk for third countries from the new nuclear actor will remain minimal.

The paper is available also at Academia.edu, ResearchGate, and SSRN.

June 18, 2023
by Moshe
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Lessons from Iosif Rapoport’s life

Article by Yehoshua Socol and Moshe Yanovskiy ‘Geneticist Iosif Rapoport: the Scientist vs. the State‘ just has been published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JPandS) Volume 28 No 2, (Summer) 2023.

The purpose of the review was to analyze the life and contribution to the science of Iosif Rapoport (1912-1990) in light of the relationship between science and power, science and society. Through the dramatic twists and turns in the history of genetics in the USSR, Rapoport and his colleagues—some of whom paid with their lives for their commitment to the truth—worked for a long time under extreme conditions. Rapoport’s story also mercilessly reminds of the responsibility of many scientists, who have learned to build and exploit special relationships with authorities—but have ceased to be scientists. Rapoport was not merely an outstanding scientist nominated for the Nobel Prize, contributing to science despite very unfavorable conditions. Throughout his entire life, he demonstrated outstanding courage, both military and civil. Due to the latter, by the way, he was not awarded the Prize. While everyone should try to follow his way, an ordinary person will hardly replicate his behavior. Society cannot rely on the personal heroism of a few; it should strengthen rules and institutions that preserve the culture of scientific discussion.

March 20, 2023
by Moshe
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Biden and Israel Judiciary Reform

One old guy failed to win elections honestly (so he needs voting w/o ID, postal voting, and more – see H.R.1 ). He disrespects his country’s constitution, he disrespects his Supreme court and he is searching for ways to bypass SCOTUS’ verdicts, he heavily invests in a new project to organize terrorists’ Army against Israel (at US taxpayers’ cost, of course). At the same time, he is eager to intervene in Israel Judiciary’s reform.
Is it just a case of “hutzpa”?