Transaction costs and Islam: Explaining Conversion in Africa
Article Abstract:
The economic benefits resulting from conversion to Islam have been a major factor behind the conversion of Africans to Islam, and the timing of conversion. Conversion has often been attributed to social and cultural compatibility, but many African societies have converted in spite of great incompatibilities. There is a well-known link between trade in Africa and the spread of Islam, and the institutional advantages which Islam offered in long-distance trade was of great economic benefit to individuals. Islam offered a common legal and social structure which made Africans 'insiders'.
Publication Name: Journal of Institutional & Theoretical Economics
Subject: Economics
ISSN: 0932-4569
Year: 1997
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The discontents of Islamic economic mortality
Article Abstract:
Economists who criticize Islamic economics due to its alleged failure in improving economic productivity have not yet understood the real meaning of the subject. The goal of Islamic economics is not to improve economic performance but to control the infusion of Western economic concepts into the minds of Moslems. It also attempts to propagate the conflict between the 'Homo Economicus' and the 'Homo Islamicus' sectors of the Moslem community.
Publication Name: American Economic Review
Subject: Economics
ISSN: 0002-8282
Year: 1996
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