Shlomo Yitzhaki

Shlomo Yitzhaki was born in 1944 in Baghdad

Shlomo Yitzhaki was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1944. He immigrated to Israel in 1951.

He studied for 3 degrees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received his doctorate in economics in 1976. He also spent time as a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Yitzhaki taught economics at the Hebrew University, where he became a professor, and worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research in the United States. His research covered income distribution, public economics and econometrics. He advised the World Bank and the governments of developing nations on tax systems, and took part in committees on income tax reform.

In November 2001 he was appointed Government Statistician and served until the end of 2012. During this time he moved the population census to a new method and chaired committees on poverty measures. He also represented Israel at the International Statistical Institute.

After leaving the bureau he taught at the Lev Academic Center and Hadassah College. He lived in Jerusalem, was married to Ruhama and had a son and a daughter. He died in 2023.