Tag: ComparativeEconomics

Methodology of Economics: Secular Versus Islamic

The author asserts that Islamic economics is currently the result of applying Islamic rules and injunctions (Fiqh) to the secular economic framework, and is not yet a separate discipline that fully replaces secular economics. The author notes that methodology is a messy and confusing area in both fields. He highlights that in Islamic economics, it is often wrongly treated as a research design or work plan. The author explains that economics is usually called ‘science’ and is seen to be built for achieving its objectives on some perception of rationality. Methodology is the ‘theory of theories’; in the field of economics it refers to the “process economists use to authenticate the knowledge about economic phenomena”.

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Zakah Driven Islamic Economy and Interest Driven Capitalism

Entrepreneurs may have less or more capital than they plan to invest. Owners of surplus capital may withhold it or may make it available to investors. This may be based on profit sharing ratio or interest. In the Islamic system, charge of Zakah assisted by expected share in profit motivates the owners of capital to get it invested while in a capitalist system, interest motivates the capitalist creditors to lend capital for earning interest.

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Comprehending Human Economic Behavior Through a Multicultural Lens: Examining the Concepts of Homo Economicus and Islamicus

Author states that the validity of the homo economicus model has been challenged by substantial empirical evidence showing that human beings are not entirely rational in their economic decision making, and are prone to cognitive biases and sociological factors. Herbert Simon proposed the concept of “bounded rationality” to describe the limitations of human rationality. The behavioural economics movement also sought to incorporate psychological insights into economic analysis, to construct more realistic models of human behaviour. The validity of the homo islamicus model has also been questioned for being overly idealistic and not necessarily reflecting the actual behaviour of Muslim economic agents, who are profoundly shaped by the modern social context.

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Labour in Comparative Economic Systems

In Marxian economics, it is argued that labor creates surplus value in the production process that capitalists extract in the exchange process. Marx said that the capitalist purchases the use value of labor (service) and pays labor something equivalent to the exchange value of labor time. It is barely enough to keep the labor survive. However, when the capitalist sells products created by “labor power,” these products command more exchange value and this excess is known as surplus value. The surplus accumulates and this is exploitation of labor by the capitalists.

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