Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg (; born 21 September 1950) is an Israeli economist who was the chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel. He was appointed by Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

in August 2011 to lead a

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

for negotiations with the Israeli protesters and for recommending economic measures to overcome the crisis. He is currently the Executive Director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Trajtenberg joined the Zionist Union list in December 2014 and was elected to the Knesset in 2015. However, he left politics in 2017.

Biography

Trajtenberg was born in Córdoba,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and emigrated to Israel at the age of 16. He graduated from the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

with a major in economics in 1973 and completed a master's degree in economics and sociology in 1976, also at the Hebrew University. In 1984 he received his Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for work entitled "Economic Analysis of Product Innovation: The Case of CT Scanners." Upon completing his Ph.D., he returned to Israel, and has since been serving as a professor in the

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

School of Economics. Trajtenberg served in several public roles. He was a consultant to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and to the Prime Minister's Office. In 2006 he was appointed the first chair of the Israeli National Economic Council, a post from which he resigned in 2009. In 2011, he was appointed to head a committee for negotiating with the Israeli protesters and recommending economic measures to overcome the crisis. Trajtenberg said the government ignored his committee's recommendations to alleviate the housing shortage and skyrocketing prices as those issues were highlighted in the Olim L'Berlin campaign in the summer of 2014. He is a member of Beit Daniel, Israel's flagship

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

congregation, in Tel Aviv. In September 2017 Trajtenberg announced that he was resigning from the Knesset; he was replaced by Saleh Saad.Top Israeli economist quitting politics
The Jerusalem Post, 28 September 2017

References

Personal homepage
in the Tel Aviv University website
CV
from Trajtenberg's homepage
Trajtenberg to the protesters in Tel Aviv: No chance gov't will bury my report - The protests are too powerful
(in Hebrew), Globes, August 14, 2011

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trajtenberg, Manuel 1950 births Living people People from Córdoba, Argentina Argentine Jews Israeli Jews Argentine emigrants to Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni Harvard University alumni Argentine economists Israeli economists Innovation economists Israeli people of Argentine-Jewish descent Zionist Union politicians Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Academic staff of Tel Aviv University