Barry Topf, at The Blogs

Barry Topf

Oct 20, 2023, 2:44 PM

Amongst the most outrageous acts of this government has been to increase subsidies, to an unprecedented extent, to ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and yeshiva students. No one knows exactly how much money has actually been promised to the Haredi parties, since...

Sep 20, 2023, 6:00 PM

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Is the Saudi deal a dream or a nightmare?

File: Benjamin Netanyahu (right) during a Likud party meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 13, 2021; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) speaks during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 14, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90; Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

Why has 'normalization' suddenly become so important? The answer is frighteningly simple: Netanyahu needs the photo-op

Mar 29, 2023, 1:33 PM

How did disaster happen so quickly?

The speed and force of the coalition’s assault on Israel’s democracy has stunned many liberal Israelis. It has revealed how fragile the social fabric of the country is and what deep divisions exist. It also forces us to ask...

Mar 28, 2023, 12:03 AM

Forget Poland and Hungary

Opponents of the coalition’s campaign to attain political control of the judicial system have rightly pointed to the examples of Hungary, Poland, and other illiberal democracies -countries which Fareed Zakaria defined as “democratically elected regimes …that ignore the constitutional...

Mar 13, 2023, 3:35 PM

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The reckless endangerment of Start-Up Nation

Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman (L) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin attend a meeting of the panel on January 11, 2023. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 / montage by The Times of Israel)

The short-sighted politics driving the government’s judicial legislation will gravely damage Israel’s economy and its citizens’ prosperity

About Me

Barry Topf was a member of the Bank of Israel’s senior Management from 2001 until 2013. He was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee in 2011-2013. As a consultant for multinational organizations, he has advised more than 25 countries on macroeconomic and monetary policy.