Israeli Economist Prof. Asaf Razin Dies at 85 After Influential Career

Prof. Asaf Razin, one of Israel's leading economists, passed away at the age of 85. Born in Kibbutz Shamir, Razin was severely injured during his military service and recognized as a disabled IDF veteran. He earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago on "Human Capital Investment and Economic Growth" before returning to teach at Tel Aviv University, where he served as head of the Economics Department, dean of the Social Sciences Faculty, and deputy rector. He also taught at Cornell University in New York.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Razin was head of the Economic Planning Authority at the Ministry of Finance and served as the government's chief economic advisor. He warned the Menachem Begin government of the looming hyperinflation crisis in the early 1980s but was dismissed due to his opposition to the government's populist fiscal policies. Razin later advised the International Monetary Fund and central banks in the US, UK, Israel, and Hong Kong. He also served as president of the Israeli Economic Association.

Razin received the EMET Prize for Social Sciences: Economics in 2017 and was awarded a lifetime achievement honor by the Israeli Economic Association in 2025. In a 2018 interview, he described Israel as a unique economic success story, rising from a Third World country in 1948 to a mid-ranking member of the OECD within 70 years, attributing this to strong exports, immigration from the former Soviet Union, and integration into global high-tech investment.