Islamic interbank money market: contracts, instruments and their pricing

This chapter discusses the Islamic interbank money market, its instruments and operations. The discussion demonstrates that the existence of a viable Islamic interbank money market is crucial for the successful implementation of an Islamic financial system. The chapter examines the various interbank money market instruments, their underlying Islamic contracts and their pricing mechanisms, with appropriate examples. The availability of various Islamic interbank money market instruments allows Islamic banks to cover their exposure (in case of deficit) and make placement on short­term basis (in case of surplus). Moving forward, a greater variety of instruments with fixed return mechanisms and tradability features, which at the same time invite fewer Shariah issues, must be offered in the market to ensure a more vibrant Islamic interbank money market

What is Islamic microfinance?

Islamic microfinance is a specialized part in a growing and diverse body of microfinance literature. To date, there are quite a few papers on Islamic microfinance that are published in reputable journals, which fairly represent the size of Islamic microfinance industry compared to the overall microfinance sector. This chapter aims to provide an overview of Islamic microfinance in the context of mainstream microfinance sector and highlights some of the salient features that differentiate Islamic microfinance with conventional or overall microfinance. It will discuss the origin, different approaches in the development, and characteristics of Islamic microfinance. These will be followed by discussion on lending models, sources and uses of funds, and poverty impact of Islamic microfinance institutions. Finally, this chapter will conclude will some thoughts on possible opportunities for future Islamic microfinance research

State predation in historical perspective: the case of Ottoman müsadere practice during 1695–1839

International audienceThis paper studies the practice of Müsadere in the Ottoman Empire. Müsadere refers to the expropriation of elites—often tax farmers or administrators—by the Sultan. This practice is interesting from both political economy and economic history perspectives as the Ottoman Empire continued to increase its reliance on it during the eighteenth century, a period when European states were investing in fiscal capacity and building bureaucratic tax systems. The main argument is that Sultans faced a “political Laffer curve:” if revenue is too low, the state collapses; if fiscal extraction is too high there is a rebellion and the Sultan risks losing power. While expropriations (müsadere) allow the Sultan to keep taxes low, they are vulnerable to provoking elites to invest in fugitive rather than (more productive) captive assets. We also show that the Sultan is more prone to target politically strong elites when his fiscal capacity is low