Interdisciplinary Center researcher Prof. Omer Moav claims that the natural growth rate in Israel will not allow us to continue living at the current standard of living for much longer.
In an interview with Kalman Libeskind on the program 'The Thing' on Kan News, the economist claimed: "If we just want to stand still, we need to increase infrastructure by 2% per year, but we want not only to stand still but to move forward - a huge investment is needed, mainly in public transportation, to align with developed countries.".
Moav points to a change in direction: "The very high birth rate, and especially its distribution across different populations, is a very serious economic challenge that we need to address." According to Moav, Israel encourages birth rates by subsidizing families with many children.
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""Recent studies have shown that an average Haredi family receives from the state in education, health and welfare budgets on the order of 5,000 shekels a month in addition to what it pays in taxes. This means that there is a growing population here, a growing burden on the taxpayer.".
And what about the moral world that leads religious Jewish families, and not only, to have many children?
Prof. Moav prefers to focus on the economic side: "We need to decide whether we want to be a developed country, or a poor country where lots of children are born. I won't argue. Maybe I'll take myself to live somewhere else.".
""Childbirth is not only a function of culture, values, and religion, but also a function of incentives. With a sober view, we have no choice but to understand that we cannot continue to encourage childbearing and finance children. Child benefits should be reduced and certainly stopped after a third child.".
Crowded here: Economist Prof. Omer Moav says that encouraging the birth rate in Israel is harming our economy, and claims - we will soon have to choose between a high standard of living and encouraging the birth rate@KalmanLiebskind #The_matter_of_matter pic.twitter.com/U8qijK1LLT
— Here News (@kann_news) April 20, 2021
