Publications [#384290] of Timur Kuran

Chapters in Books

1. Kuran, T, Islamic Economic Institutions, in New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Third Edition (January, 2018), pp. 7033-7037 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/18)

   Abstract:
   The economic institutions of the classical Islamic world include Islamic contract law and the waqf, a form of trust. Until modern times, these two institutions were generally beneficial to economic performance. However, each had limitations that eventually blocked modern economic growth. Islamic contract law discouraged the formation of large and long-lived partnerships, thus obviating the need for business techniques and organizational forms associated with economic modernization. The waqf, designed as a rigid organization, locked capital into inefficient uses. Not until modern times has the corporation, a more flexible organizational form, entered the legal systems of the Islamic world.