In recent years, more and more students have been taking Health Economics courses in the framework of different academic programs. These students are mostly health professionals who had not been exposed to the world of economics before. This textbook aims to introduce the material intuitively, in an informal and non-technical way, and above all – in Hebrew. The book is the fruit of extensive experience, its author having taught the course at the Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University, Tel Aviv University and Yale University.

According to common opinion, in the research of Jewish law and in the Halakhic literature, transactions in incorporeal estates are non-valid. However, economic life and the business world are based on these transactions. As a result, a gap was created between Halacha and reality. The book " Out of Nothing" proposes resolving this problem through Talmudic research methods, various issues which are discussed in the Talmudic law, including Davar She'lo Ba La'olam , Tovat Hanaha , and bills sale. In the course of the discussion it turns out that the Tannaitic ruling recognized these transactions, but Talmudic Halakha refused to recognize them. However, the Amoraim suggest various ways of mediation in order to enable transferring of future estate, debt bonds and so on. The book proposes to take the bridges that the Amoraim proposed based on the Tannaitic law and to use them as tools for Halakhic validation of current market life.

The book starts with the description of the historical background of the settlement of Mesopotamia and the emergence of the Sumerian culture in the fourth millennium BC. It continues into the Old Assyrian trade in the beginning of the second millennium BC. There are many books on the history and archeology of the region but emphasis of the book is on the economic institutions and the economic life of the people. The book is based on first class sources for the third millennium period and original sources from the period of the Old Assyrian trade. The central motive of the book is the description of the economy as one with characteristics of market economy with economic institutions such as property rights, market, money, credit and means of enforcement.

It is rarely noticed, Joan Robinson wrote half a century ago, that "the very nature of economics is rooted in nationalism." This book seeks to examine the relationship between economics and nationalism in the Israeli political economy in its formative years. The book focuses on two aspects of this relationship: the link between national interest and economic ideas and between the state and the markets Two questions are at the core of the book. The first, what was the role of economic ideas in shaping the national interests? A common argument holds that the realization of national interest contradicts behavior in accordance to economic rationales. The book rejects this view and it shows that as early as the 1930s the Zionist organizations shaped national interest on the basis of imported and translated economic ideas. The second question deals with the relationship between the state and the market: how state actors mediated between, on the one hand, the goal of constructing of a market economy in Israeli, and on the other hand the strategy of mobilizing market-actor to state-building project? The book rejects the common argument that state intervention prevented the consolidation of a market economy in Israeli. Rather, it argues that the state intervened, among other things, to create a market economy as a national project of the state. A significant contribution of the book is the analysis of the financial aspects of the Israeli developmental strategy, a topic that so far has not been studied thoroughly. The book traces that the effect of the establishment of the Bank of Israel on the structure of the banking system and the development strategy. It argues that the establishment of the Bank of Israel was a significant milestone in the economic history of Israel, as it provided an effective tool to control the allocation of credit.

The relationship between wealth and government became a topical and important question in Russia after the Soviet Union was dissolved for the regime as well for the Russian people.This book analyses this relationship from the year 1991 until today.

The book examines the connection between the health system and the National Health Insurance Law and the change processes in Israeli society, as well as connections between economics and politics. The book discusses whether the National Health Insurance Law is part of the political factors, which are partial to the values of individualism and competition and are gaining strength in Israel.

Successful innovation – the key to competitive growth and profit – rests on disciplined management of the innovation process, from idea inception to customer service. This book answers, first, the key questions: why innovate? What to innovate? How to innovate? And who innovates? It then provides 10 essential and practical tools to help innovators guide their ideas to marketplace success. Innovation Management is a pioneer in this new and rapidly growing discipline. Supported by over a hundred international case studies and action-learning exercises – as well as a CD to illustrate all these concepts and strategies with video lectures and useful interviews – this book will be invaluable to business leaders and strategists, students of management, and entrepreneurs.

From the Critics: "...the boldness, coherence, and sweep of the book are impressive...Ofek has good and highly persuasive ideas about his main concern, which is the importance and centrality of economic analysis from an early point in human evolution...Second Nature is an exhilarating and interesting read that raises powerful questions about how humans got here and how we should be studied." Alan Grafen (Professor of Biological Sciences, Oxford University) Science “This is without a doubt one of the most important books to be published in the field of socio-economics in recent years. Ofek has done a superb job in linking what he calls Bioeconomics with Paleoeconomics to explain the transition from Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens . . . . Briefly put, any reader would benefit from the wealth of new ideas that virtually jump out from almost each and every page.” Warren Young (Professor of Economics, Bar Ilan University) European Journal of Political Economy "Ofek synthesizes an enormous range of research on human origins to advance to the key role of exchange of goods and services in the evolution of distinctively human species.... This superb book seems poised to be a touchstone for work in prehistory and human origins for the foreseeable future; essential for all academic libraries; highly recommended for others." D. Bantz (University of Alaska) Choice "Ofek's book is, in fact, remarkable because it gives interesting, exhausting and insightful answers to old problems and, at the same time, it provides a new way to approach human evolution from the economic viewpoint." Joao Ricardo Faria (Professor of Economics, University of Texas) Economic History Network “Altogether this is a stimulating and well-done book. It’s even written better than most books involving either biology or anthropology. It seems to me that it should be the beginning of a major revamping of our views of the early history of our ancestors. Its interest to economists is of course particularly great, but I would hope that biologists and anthropologists will find it equally stimulating.” Gordon Tullock (economics and law professor at George Mason University) Journal of Bioeconomics