Trajtenberg was born in
Córdoba,
Argentina, and
emigrated to Israel at the age of 16. He graduated from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a major in economics in 1973 and completed a master's degree in economics and sociology in 1976, also at the Hebrew University. In 1984 he received his Ph.D. from
Harvard University for work entitled "Economic Analysis of Product Innovation: The Case of
CT Scanners." Upon completing his Ph.D., he returned to Israel, and has since been serving as a professor in the
Tel Aviv University School of Economics. Trajtenberg served in several public roles. He was a consultant to the
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and to the Prime Minister's Office. In 2006 he was appointed the first chair of the
Israeli National Economic Council, a post from which he resigned in 2009. In 2011, he was appointed to head a committee for negotiating with the
Israeli protesters and recommending economic measures to overcome the crisis. Trajtenberg said the government ignored his committee's recommendations to alleviate the housing shortage and skyrocketing prices as those issues were highlighted in the
Olim L'Berlin campaign in the summer of 2014. He was elected to the Knesset in 2015 as part of the
Zionist Union. He is a member of Beit Daniel, Israel's flagship
Reform congregation, in Tel Aviv. In September 2017 Trajtenberg announced that he was resigning from the Knesset; he was replaced by
Saleh Saad. ==References==