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Is Islam Bad for Business?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2012

Jack A. Goldstone
Affiliation:
Center for Global Policy, School of Public Policy, George Mason University. Email: jgoldsto@gmu.edu

Extract

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 Africa. Kuran's views are fresh and powerful, and they are subtle. He does not claim that Islamic law was generally bad for economic activity. He does not claim that prohibitions on interest denied credit to merchants or entrepreneurs. Nor does he claim that predation by absolutist states blocked capitalist accumulation or inhibited commerce.

Type
Review Essay
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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References

Tabak, Faruk. 2008. The Waning of the Mediterranean 1550–1870: A Geohistorical Approach. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar