Yoav Kislev matriculated from the prestigious Hebrew Reali School in Haifa and at the age of 18 joined the Nahal Corps, doing his military service in Kibbutz Mahanayim in the Hula Valley in Northern Israel.

His second period in the United States covered the years 1978–1979, when he was visiting professor at the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

[3] He went to the United States two more times, in 1985–1986, when he was a visitor at the World Bank's Development Research Department, working mainly on agricultural labor economics, and in 1998, for a teaching appointment at Dartmouth College, which was cut short by an illness.

Kislev's professional and private views on agricultural and water policy in Israel were extensively published in Hebrew,[5] critically shaping the Israeli decision-makers' opinions over the years.

Kislev retired from active teaching in 2002, but he tirelessly continued as an emeritus with his research in the water economy of Israel and his participation in public committees.