Using Waqf as Social Safety Net & Funding Public Infrastructure

Abstract

This study explores the economic potential of the institution of Waqf in funding necessary social and public infrastructure and to act as a permanent social safety net. In section 2, we explain the motives behind charitable giving in the real world. We discuss the factors identified in the empirical literature and experiments. We also explain the need for reinforcing incentives in order to increase the scale of charitable giving as a personal choice in a non-economic pure altruist sense. In section 3, we discuss the reinforcing incentives for charitable giving in Islamic worldview. In section 4, we explain the importance of the institution of Waqf in overall Islamic redistribution framework. We explain how the institution of Zakat, Waqf and inheritance laws together act as redistribution devices and social safety nets in an Islamic economy. Finally, in section 5, we discuss the application of Waqf in contemporary policy framework