Timur kuran is professor of economics and political science, and gorter family professor of islamic studies at duke university. This essay focuses on what i believe to be some of the most important insights of timur kurans corpus of writings on the economics of islam. Islamic economics and the islamic subeconomy jstor. Timur kuran is a turkish american economist, professor of economics and political science, and gorter family professor in islamic. Timur kurans framework and economic underdevelopment in the. The social consequences of preference falsification. Its a very broad notion of social science, of which economics is. The long divergence is a turning point in the understanding of middle eastern economic history and a mustread for everyone interested in economic development in the islamic world more generally. In an interesting new book called the long divergence, timur kuran of duke argues that islams economic restrictions, rather than its cultural conservatism or isolationism, stunted development in countries where it was the dominant religion. Nov 11, 2012 mahmoud elgamal, author of islamic finance.
Observing that few muslims take it seriously, he also finds that its practical applications have had no discernible effects on efficiency, growth, or poverty reduction. It happens frequently in everyday life, such as when we tell the host of a dinner party that we are enjoying the food when we actually find it bland. Mar 12, 2020 timur kuran is professor of economics and political science and the gorter family professor of islamic studies at duke university. His research focuses on 1 economic, political, and social change, with emphases on institutions and preferences, and 2 the economic and political history of the middle east, with a focus on the role of islam. Timur kuran the economic system in contemporary islamic thought. This latest work not only combines his earlier arguments but also provides some new perspectives.
Timur kuran is an avid reader of islamic economic and legal history and an immensely well informed scholar. He dispassionately analyses the impact of islamic laws on economic performance and comes up with compelling explanations using primary sources and indepth analysis of research by. Since then it has pursued the goal of restructuring economies according to perceived islamic teachings. His research focuses on 1 social change, including the evolution of preferences and institutions, and 2 the economic and political. Timur kuran discusses these issues in a series of wellresearched essays compiled in this timely book. In this beautifully crafted book, timur kuran provides a remarkably rich analysis of how islamic law impeded economic progress in the middle east and north.
Kuran argues islamic law primarily failed to develop the concept of a corporation. Kuran obtained his secondary education in turkey, graduating from robert college in istanbul in 1973. Kurans research focuses on social change and the economic and political history and modernization of the middle east. In this bold and timely critique, timur kuran argues that the doctrine of islamic economics is simplistic, incoherent, and largely irrelevant to present economic challenges. Nov 11, 2012 timur kuran is professor of economics and political science and the gorter family professor of islamic studies at duke university. The economic predicaments of islamism by timur kuran 2004. To understand this system, the ideal place to start is islam and mammon, a brilliant book by timur kuran, written when he was ironically, given heavy saudi backing for islamic economics king faisal professor of islamic thought and culture at the university of southern california. For a decade, he lived just off the campus of bogazici university, where his father was president and professor of islamic architectural history. Duke university professor timur kuran discusses the economic development of the muslim world. Net this is a book to be not just tasted but chewed and digested. References to this book appear in the text with page numbers in parentheses.
Now featuring thousands of books, articles, and pamphlets in dozens. Timur kuran religion, politics, and globalization program. Historical record and modern realities, in poverty and charity in middle eastern contexts, ed. It is precisely when he seems most critical of islamic doctrines that he is doing the most repair work, by indicating another path forward. Kuran offers a more theoretical approach, whereas the politics of islamic finance plunges into more specific topics with more detail. In private truths, public lies kuran argues convincingly that the phenomenon not only is ubiquitous but. Timur kuran is professor of economics and political science and gorter family professor of islamic studies at duke university. Law, economics, and practice about the author timur kuran is professor of economics and political science and the gorter family professor of islamic studies at duke university.
Middle east, the region that includes the old ottoman empire, iran, egypt, the maghreb tunisia, algeria, libya etc. Islamic economics and the islamic subeconomy by timur kuran. In kurans first seminal piece on this topic, islam and underdevelopment. In this firstrate analysis, timur kuran provides a rigorous analytical explanation and evaluation of the system of thought that has come to be. Published in volume 9, issue 4, pages 155173 of journal of economic perspectives, fall 1995, abstract. His research focuses on 1 social change, including the evolution of preferences and institutions, and 2 the economic and political history and modernization of the middle east. Drawing on diverse intellectual traditions, including those rooted in economics, psychology, sociology, and political science, kuran provides a unified theory of how preference falsification shapes collective decisions, orients structural change, sustains social stability, distorts human knowledge, and conceals political possibilities. The economic toll of islamic law timur kurans provocative diagnosis of a regions malaise and a possible cure by thanassis cambanis july 1, 2012, 12. Avner greif, stanford university kurans book is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the middle east and the islamic world. The gorter family distinguished professor of islamic studies in trinity college of arts and sciences. Sep 26, 2007 to understand this system, the ideal place to start is islam and mammon, a brilliant book by timur kuran, written when he was ironically, given heavy saudi backing for islamic economics king faisal professor of islamic thought and culture at the university of southern california. Although islamic economics was developed to serve cultural and political ends, efforts have been made to put its ideals into practice.
Its a very broad notion of social science, of which economics is a part, rather than the idea that economics is somehow. In the long divergence, one of the worlds leading experts on islamic economic institutions and the economy of the middle east provides a new answer to these longdebated questions. In them, he why is it that despite the tremendous amount of wealth that has been created over the centuries, muslim nations still remain economically backward. Timur kuran is professor of economics and law, and king faisal professor of islamic thought and culture, at the university of southern california. Timur kuran argues that the doctrine of islamic economics is simplistic, incoherent, and largely irrelevant to present economic challenges. Islamic subeconomy timur kuran t he midtwentieth century saw the emergence of a literature characterized as islamic economics. An old puzzle revisited 1997, he lays out the question which has consumed much of his academic life since. The declared goal of this literature has been to identify and promote an economic order that conforms to islamic scripture and traditions.
Nov 23, 2010 timur has written a great deal on how islamic economics, as the formal movement is known, has not done islamic economies any great favors. Timur has written a great deal on how islamic economics, as the formal movement is known, has not done islamic economies any great favors. Timur kuran is a turkish american economist, professor of economics and political science, and gorter family professor in islamic studies at duke university. How islamic law held back the middle east princeton, nj. Socioeconomic status and interest rates under partial rule of law. So, the books series that i edit at cambridge with timur kuran its not an austrian series, its just a straightup economics series, but its title is cambridge studies in economics, cognition and society. The best books on austrian economics five books expert. Riba, encyclopedia of islam and the muslim world, vol. Apr 12, 2004 timur kuran discusses these issues in a series of wellresearched essays compiled in this timely book. In this firstrate analysis, timur kuran provides a rigorous analytical explanation and evaluation of the system of thought that has come to be known as islamic economics and the economic system that it proposes. The economic system in contemporary islamic thought.
The very idea of islamic bankingindeed, the notion of a distinctive islamic economicsgrows out of and is sustained by the largely fundamentalist impulse to defend muslim. Few muslims take it seriously, he writes, and its practical applications have had no discernible effects on efficiency, growth, or poverty reduction. Timur kuran argues that what slowed the economic development of the middle east was not colonialism or geography, still less muslim attitudes or some. Timur kuran is gorter family professor in islamic studies and professor of economics and political science at duke university. Timur kuran argues that what slowed the economic development of the middle east was not colonialism or geography, still less muslim attitudes or some incompatibility between islam and capitalism. He then studied economics at princeton university, graduating magna cum laude in 1977. Interpretation and assessment introduction since the late 1940s, and especially since the mid1960s, a wealth of pamphlets, articles, and books have appeared that constitute the corpus of what is now known as islamic economics. Office hours with timur kuran on economic development in the islamic world.
Timur kuran is professor of economics and political science and the gorter family professor of islamic studies at duke university. Classical islamic law recognizes only natural persons. Timur kuran is professor of economics and kjngfaisal professor of islamic thought and. How islamic law held back the middle east summarizing his arguments on the institutional roots of the middle easts economic stagnation. Timur kurans framework and economic underdevelopment in. Social and economic life in seventeenthcentury istanbul. Islam and mammon by timur kuran, 9780691126296, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Office hours with timur kuran on economic development in the. Why has the islamic world been economically underdeveloped. His work focuses on social change, including the evolution of preferences and institutions, and the economic history and thought of the middle east. Chris berg, sydney morning herald timur kuran is an avid reader of islamic economic and legal history and an immensely well informed.
His work spans economics, political science, history, and legal studies. Journal of king abdulaziz university islamic economics, vol. From 1990 to 2008 kuran served as editor of an interdisciplinary book series published by the university of. Timur kuran takes an evidencebased approach to the causes of the middle easts poor economic performance compared with europes over the last few hundred years. The author is a libertarian, freemarket professor of economics. Preference falsification, according to the economist timur kuran, is the act of misrepresenting ones wants under perceived social pressures. Islamic economics and the islamic subeconomy american.
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