Counting the Cost of the Intifada: Consumption,Saving and Political Instability in Israel.

In this paper we investigate some of the ways in which short-term variations in the magnitude of political instability can impact on macroeconomic performance, taking the example of Israel since 1987. Several indicators of political instability are found to have a significant impact on aggregate consumption and savings, and explain a large part of poor Israeli savings performance over recent years.