Corruption and development: an inquiry into nature and causes and suggested remedy

Recognition for corruption as one of the main obstacles in the way of economic development is a rather recent development in the discipline of Development Economics. Due to wide-spread corruption only a small portion of development money reaches to the public. The reasons behind the corruption culture are numerous such as rejection of moral and spiritual values, greed and lust of money, rising election expenses, no belief in accountability to God or responsibility to the masses. With these states of character, the new policy of liberalization, privatization and globalization provided a golden opportunity to money maximizing culture. The remedy lies in inner purification and fear of God the all-knowing and all-seeing, and propagation of ethical and moral values. The strengthening of democracy and freedom of judiciary, right to information, and freedom of press should also be ensured to dislodge the corrupt politicians and public officials. A country caught in corruption and crimes is like a sick person. If timely and effective measures are not taken, it may result in collapse and disintegration of the whole system.Development problems, Ethics and economics, Nature and causes of corruption, Remedy of corruption, Indian economic problems.

Works on public finance by the sixteenth century Muslim scholars

The subject of public finance and taxation marked the beginning of systematic and rather exclusive writing on economic issues in Islamic tradition in its earliest period. Within a few centuries a large number of works came out on the subject. This trend continued in the later centuries but with a difference in quantity, quality and style. Their number decreased, coverage contracted and they increasingly tended to deal with specific issues. Writings in the later centuries were characterized by imitation and repetition. In the sixteenth century the major works on the subject include al-Balatunusi's "Tahrir al-Maqal….." and Ibn Nujaym's "Risalah fi'l-kharaj" and " Mas'alat al-Jibayah …. " From the Persian speaking East, Fadl-Allah Khunji has discussed the Islamic provision of public finance in much details in his work Suluk al-Muluk a very comprehensive treatment of the subject in the 16th century. It presents many insights on the Islamic theory of public finance. In the Safawid Iran the issue of kharaj was a very controversial topic. But this controversy centered on whether acceptance of stipend from kharaj income is permissible for religious scholars.Public Finance; Public Expenditure; Kharaj; Iqta`; Bait al-mal; Ibn Nujaym, Khunji, History of public finance in Islam.

Mercantilism and the Muslim states: Lessons from the history

Mercantilism was the dominant current of economic thinking and practice during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries till the emergence of physiocracy. The scientific discoveries in Europe helped the development of mercantilism in many ways. Discovery of new world provided them with new market and a new all water route of European trade through the Cape of the Good Hope. On all these fronts the Muslim states lagged behind. Their absence from this front left the merchant-patronizing governments free to impoverish a larger part of the world by establishing colonies and exploiting them to their own benefit. The development of mercantilism marked the shift of paradigm. It ignored ethical considerations and destroyed moral values that had been hitherto inseparable part of economic thinking and practices.Pre-classical Economics; price and market, Pre-Smithian Pricing Mechanism.

Book Review on Islamic finance: law, economics and practice by Mahmoud A. El-Gamal

This a critical evaluation of the book entitled Islamic finance: law, economics and practice by Mahmoud A. El-GamalIslamic finance; law and economics;Islamic economics, banking and insurance; mutuality.

B. R. Ambedkar's contribution to the history of provincial decentralization of imperial finance

The present paper studies and evaluates Dr. Ambedkar's pioneering contribution to the origin and development of provincial finance during the British period. It also discusses his opinion regarding different stages of decentralization, and compares it with that of M.G. Ranade, one of the earliest writers on the subject. Towards the end, an effort has been made to investigate the main causes in Ambedkar's opinion that led to the enactment of the Reform Act of 1919 which marked the beginning of the modem history of public finance in India. It will also examine Dr. Ambedkar's view on financial relationship between the centre and the provinces.Ambedkar’s Economic Ideas, Decentralization of provincial finance in British India, Public Finance, Economic History of India, Indian Economic Thought.

Perception of market and pricing among the sixteenth century Muslim scholars

The present paper investigates the perception of market and mechanism of pricing among the sixteenth century Muslim scholars, a period hitherto unexplored. In the commencement it briefly states the insufficient attention that the subject of market – the most fundamental element of Economics – has received in the conventional economics. To set a proper perspective it examines the situation in the Islamic tradition in earlier centuries before it studies the understanding of market and pricing among the Muslim scholars of the study period. It also deals with their stand regarding the price regulation. For comparison purpose, it examines the treatment of market and pricing in the work of their contemporary Western scholars. The paper ends with a note on 'just price', one of the most important economic concepts in the medieval period.Market, Pricing Mechanism, Economic Thought,Just price. History of Islamic Economic Thought

Aspects of Muslim economic thinking in the eleventh century (AH)/seventeenth century (CE)

This paper investigates the state of Muslim economic thinking in the 17th century (11th century AH), through the works in Arabic language, within the territories under the Ottoman rule. It also looks into those written in other parts of the world or in other languages, where translations were available. No work was found exclusively dedicated to pure economic themes such as market and pricing, money and theory of value, economics of taxation and public expenditure, and similar subjects on which earlier Muslim scholars had written extensively. The focus of Muslim economic thinking in the period was on public finance, monetary reform, agrarian relations, and cleansing the economy of corruptions which was the main obstacle in the way of progress.Economic History; Muslim Economic Thinking; Ottoman Economics; Economics of Sufism.

Monetary thought of the sixteenth century muslim scholars

Muslim scholars of the sixteenth century continued the tradition of writing on economic issues. Their work, however is characterized by the period's overall feature of imitation and repetition and thus reflects hardly any advancement of monetary thought since the works of earlier Muslim scholars. This is clearly reflected in the two representative treatises on money: those of al-Suyuti (d. 1506) written at the beginning of the century, and al-Tumurtashi (d. 1598), written at its the end. History of Islamic economic thought is a well-researched area of Islamic Economics. To the best of our knowledge, however, all such research stopped at the end of the fifteenth century – the age of Ibn Khaldun and al-Maqrizi. The present paper seeks to advance this research and intends to investigate monetary thought of Muslim scholars during the sixteenth century (corresponding to tenth century Hijrah, exactly from 906 AH to 1009 AH). Beginning with an overview of earlier monetary thought in Islam to provide background information, then it goes on to note that particular century's monetary problems in order to provide a perspective for the discussion of monetary thought among Muslim scholars. For the purpose of comparison, European monetary thought of the same period is also analyzed.Monetary thought; Quantity theory of money;Sixteenth century Monetary Thought; al-Suyuti; al-Tumurtashi.

Works on market supervision and shar'iyah governance (al-hisbah wa al-siyasah al-shar'iyah) by the sixteenth century scholars

In Islamic tradition two sets of works – al-hisbah and al-siyasah al-shar‛iyah – appeared that proved to be a rich source of economic thought of past Muslim thinkers. Works related to al-hisbah generally discussed socio-economic control, moral and market supervision, prevention of monopolies, check on cheating and fraud and such other corrupting practices, standardization of products, facilitation of the supply of necessities, etc. As far works pertaining to al-siyasah al-shar'iyah are concerned, they generally dealt with the rules of governance, economic role of the state, sources of public revenue, public expenditure (in addition to works exclusively devoted to public finances), maintenance of law and order, internal and external defense, etc. The present paper aims to discuss the state of these two institutions in the sixteenth century and writings on the subject by the scholars of the period.Market Supervision; Standardization of product, Check on monopoly, public duties, good governance; hisbah; siyasah shar`iyah.

COMMENTS on: “Choice between debt and equity contracts and asymmetrical information: Some empirical evidence"

This is a comment as discussant of a paper entitled “Choice between debt and equity contracts and asymmetrical information: Some empirical evidence" by Qazem Sadr and Zameer Iqbal, included in Iqbal, M. and Llewellyn, David T. (edit), Islamic Banking and Finance: New Perspectives on Profit Sharing and Risk. It was presented at the fourth International Conference held in UK.Islamic mode of investments; Mudarabah; Musharakah; Debt; equity; asymmetrical information.; Islamic finance.