The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector (5-99 employees) is of great importance to economic growth and employment. However, small businesses struggle to compete with larger enterprises. Data shows tens of thousands of small and medium businesses close yearly. This research aims to track the reasons for these businesses' low competitiveness and identify the factors leading to their closure.

This research presents a historical and theoretical background to the concept of "cost of living", the current state of the cost of living in Israel, and various policy proposals to deal with the factors that affect the cost of living.

For over two years, the IEP is conducting a comprehensive and pioneering research on corruption in local government, in collaboration with Prof. Doron Navot of the University of Haifa, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and other bodies involved in this field. The objective of this project is to form systematic solutions that will lead to a substantial reduction in corruption while optimizing the decision-making framework and reducing the time of decision-making.