Assaf Razin

Assaf Razin is an Israeli economist noted for contributions to public finance, international economics, and political economy. He held professorial positions and visiting appointments at leading institutions and authored influential works on taxation, fiscal policy, and capital flows. His scholarship intersects with comparative analysis of policy in developed and emerging economies and has been cited across academic, policy, and international organizations.

Early life and education

Born in Haifa during the British Mandate, Razin pursued undergraduate studies in economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and completed graduate studies at Yale University, where he earned a Ph.D. under the supervision of Peter Kenen. His doctoral training placed him in the intellectual lineage associated with the International Monetary Fund–era research community and the postwar development of modern international macroeconomics. Early influences included exposure to the work of John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and contemporaries at Princeton University and Harvard University during visiting scholar interactions.

Academic career

Razin served on the faculty of Tel Aviv University where he became a professor in the Department of Economics, and held visiting appointments at Princeton University, the University of Chicago, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research and participated in seminars at the London School of Economics and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Razin supervised doctoral students and collaborated with scholars from institutions such as Columbia University, Stanford University, and Yale University. He contributed to policy discussions at forums including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and national ministries of finance.

Research and contributions

Razin's research spans public finance, international capital mobility, taxation, and political economy. He produced analytical models addressing tax competition among jurisdictions, optimal taxation in open economies, and the interplay of political institutions with fiscal outcomes, engaging with literatures associated with James Buchanan, Anthony Downs, and Kenneth Arrow. His work on capital flight and tax evasion connects to studies by Peter Lindert and Vito Tanzi, while his models of intertemporal taxation and sovereign debt relate to frameworks advanced by Robert Barro and Thomas Sargent. Razin explored the macroeconomic consequences of redistribution and demographic change in contexts examined by Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, and Gary Becker. He applied game-theoretic techniques popularized by John Nash and Thomas Schelling to problems in fiscal hierarchy and federalism, and evaluated the welfare implications of fiscal rules influenced by debates at the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve System. His comparative analyses addressed transitions studied in the post-communist literature involving Andrei Shleifer, Martin Feldstein, and policymakers in Russia, Poland, and Hungary.

Publications and books

Razin authored and coauthored numerous articles in leading journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Review of Economic Studies. He coedited volumes and wrote books on public finance and international economics that were used in graduate curricula alongside texts by Oliver Blanchard, Ben Bernanke, and Maurice Obstfeld. His work appears in anthologies published by academic presses associated with Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, and he contributed chapters to handbooks alongside scholars from MIT Press collections. Collaborative publications include joint pieces with researchers from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and international coauthors who hold appointments at University of Michigan, Yale University, and University College London.

Awards and honors

Razin received recognition from academic and policy institutions, including fellowships and visiting scholar appointments at Princeton University and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was awarded grants from organizations such as the Israeli Science Foundation and participated in international prize committees and advisory panels linked to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. His career has been acknowledged in festschrifts and conferences organized by departments at Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the London School of Economics.

Category:Israeli economists Category:Public finance economists Category:1944 births Category:Living people