Table Of ContentECONOMICS, ETHICS AND RELIGION
By the same author
ISlAMIC BUSINESS: THEORY AND PRACTICE
ISlAMIC FINANCIAL MARKETS (editor)
*CYPRUS AND THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
*TRADE AND INVESTMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
*THE ECONOMIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST
*BANKING AND FINANCE IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST
*BANKING IN THE ARAB GULF (with john R Presley)
GULF TRADE AND FINANCE
POLITICS AND THE ECONOMY OF JORDAN
*Also published by Palgrave Macmillan
Economics, Ethics and
Religion
Jewish, Christian and Muslim Economic
Thought
Rodney Wilson
Professor of Economics
University or Durham
in association with
-~ University of Durham
MACMILLAN
© Rodney Wilson 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 978-0-333-62642-9
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Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 1997 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-39334-3 ISBN 978-0-230-37472-0 (eBook)
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Contents
Table and Figure List viii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Economics and Ethics 1
Is There a Place for Morality in Economics? 3
The Motivation of Homo Oeconomicus 5
Needs, Wants and Scarcity 8
Ethical Implications of Contemporary
Methodological Debate 11
Ethical Economics as a Specialism 16
2 Judaism 22
Jewish Law and Economics 23
Wealth and Possessions 27
Money, Banking and Interest 32
Markets, Fair Trading and Government
Regulation 36
The Theory of Prices in Talmudic Literature 40
Resource Allocation in a Perfect Static Economy 44
Exchange, Equivalence and the Role of Money 46
Scarcity, Rationality and Economic Motivation 49
Is There a Distinctly Jewish Economic System? 53
Secularist Influences on the Economy of Modern
Israel 55
Manifestos of the Religious Parties in Israel 59
Modern Western Jewish Thinking on Economic
Justice 62
The Contribution of Judaism to Economics 66
3 Christianity 68
A Biblical Approach to Economic Understanding 68
The Christian View of Wealth 70
Resource Management through Christian
Stewardship 74
Economic Perceptions of Early Christian Saints
and Scholars 76
v
V1 Contents
Scholastic Views on Values and Prices 79
Aquinas's Position on Usury 82
Protestantism and Capitalism 85
Modern Christian Economists' Views on
Economics 88
A Christian Economist in Support of Deregulation 92
Recent Theological Perspectives on Economics 95
Christianity and the Market 101
The Changing Nature of Catholic Economic
Debate 106
Christian Economic Values 112
4 Islam 115
Sources of Islamic Economic Philosophy 117
The Koranic Teaching on Commerce 119
Just Rewards in an Islamic Economy 121
The Prohibition of Riba 124
Early Pioneers of Islamic Economics 128
Modern Muslim Approaches to Economics 132
An Islamic Alternative to Marxism 135
Islam and Capitalism 139
Islamic Economics in the Modern Middle East 142
Iran's Islamic Economy 146
Islamic Profit Sharing Investment 149
Islamic Financing Methods 152
Islamic Banking Development 155
Public Finance under Islam 157
Insurance in Muslim Countries 159
Critical Writing on Islamic Economics 160
5 Business Ethics 164
Business Ethics as a Discipline 165
Self-Regulation, Conscience and Moral Codes
of Conduct 168
Corporate Values and Business Motivation 173
Multinational Companies, National Interest and
Corporate Responsibility 179
Ethics in Finance 182
Ethical Banking and Investment 187
The Performance of Ethical Funds 193
Contents vii
Christian Business Ethics 197
Business Ethics in Islam 206
Conclusions 212
Bibliography 215
Index 227
Table and Figure List
Table 5.1: British Ethical Funds 192
Figure 5.1: Friends Provident Stewardship Fund:
Price Trends and Annual Variations 195
Vlll
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank two of my colleagues in the Department
of Economics in Durham, Professor Denis O'Brien, who read
and commented on Chapters 1 and 2, and Professor Peter
Johnson, who read and commented on Chapter 3. Professor
Fran<,;oise Deconinck of the University of Paris X read Chap
ters 2 and 3, and made very useful suggestions.
Some of the material in Chapter 4 was presented at a sem
inar at the Islamic Foundation in Leicester in November 1995.
I would like to thank the participants for their questions and
comments, notably Dr Umer Chapra of the Saudi Arabian
Monetary Agency, for his comments on my treatment of Ibn
Khaldun, the Islamic philosopher and economist. I have learnt
much from discussions there, and at a seminar during Decem
ber 1994 at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang on Islamic
Political Economy.
I alone am responsible for the text of this volume, and those
acknowledged may not share the views expressed. It is hoped,
however, that this work will encourage others to work in the
field of economics and comparative religion, and that the
bibliography will prove useful.
ix
