تاثیر اقتصادی اسلام بر کشورهای در حال توسعه

This essay focuses on two questions: How do the current economic systems and institutions of Muslim countries differ from those of other countries at the same stage of economic development? What is the impact of Islam on the economic and social performance of these countries? Employing a cluster analysis I find that there is no special Muslim economic system; moreover, few economic institutions are uniquely Muslim. Using a regression analysis I also find that the presence of Islam has relatively little influence on most economic or social performance indicators. In the analysis of Muslim economies, religion does not appear to be a useful explanatory variable.

Max Weber’s analysis of the role of Protestantism on European economies during industrialization has given rise to a considerable literature on the differential economic impact of particular Christian sects, both now and in the past. The literature on the economic impact of Islam is less extensive. Moreover, most studies deal primarily with Arab countries, which have a number of special features, rather than the Muslim world as a whole; or they are theoretical or ideological and appear to conflate what current Muslim economies should be like with what they actually are. This essay takes a much more empirical approach and asks two questions: How do the current economic systems and institutions of Muslim countries differ from those of other countries at roughly the same stage of economic development? And what is the impact of Islam on the economic and social performance of particular countries? Section 2 reviews the countries whose populations are predominantly Muslim and provides a brief overview of Muslim economic doctrines relevant to this discussion. Section 3 is methodological and explains my empirical approach, outlines the criteria for selecting the sample, and briefly discusses cluster analysis, which is a key statistical tool used throughout this essay. Section 4 defines economic systems in terms of the clusters of economic institutions composing them and uses such an analysis to show that no uniquely Muslim economic system can be isolated. Furthermore, a regression analysis indicates that of the 44 institutions defining the economic systems, few emerge as special to Muslim countries. Section 5 examines a series of economic and social performance indicators to show that in a few isolated cases, Islam does appear to have a significant impact, although even in these cases the relation to the doctrines of Islam seems quite indirect.

Many commentators—fervent advocates and opponents of Islam, as well as dispassionate scholars—have made claims about its impact on economic institutions and performance. The evidence presented in this essay shows these claims are exaggerated. Using 44 indicators of economic institutions, I employ a cluster analysis to isolate four economic systems. The Muslim countries in my sample do not cluster in any specific system but, instead, are spread out among three. In the examination of the impact of Islam on the individual economic institutions, only one statistically significant relationship could be found, namely, that the share of Muslims in the population is inversely related to the percentage of firms offering training to their workers. The economic and social performances of the countries in my sample are related to their economic systems. My regression results show, however, that only two indicators are significantly and robustly related to the share of Muslims in the population, namely the unusually low ratio of literate females to literate males in the adult population and the unusually high level of reported happiness. The conclusion that Islam as a religion has relatively little impact on the economic institutions, the economic system, or the economic and social performance of a country should not be surprising. Even though Protestantism and Catholicism may have had differential impacts on particular countries in the early stages of industrialization, neither of these branches of Christianity appears tied at the present time to one particular economic system or to any special economic institutions (Pryor, 2005). Of course, a Muslim countries’ policy makers often say that they are introducing particular institutions or are pursuing certain economic policies for doctrinal reasons. But if so, that countries’ situation is unusual and does not appear to obtain in the universe of Muslim countries as a whole. Finally, my finding of the relatively minor impact of Islam on the economic characteristics of Muslim countries has an extremely important implication for economic policy. It is not Islam that is holding these countries back economically, but rather the same factors unearthed by development economists that explain economic backwardness in so many other countries in the world. My major conclusion about the lack of a major impact of Islam on the economic system, on economic institutions, and on economic and social performance does not imply the impact of Islam on other aspects of the society, such as the political system or political outcomes, are unimportant.28 Nor does it touch on the interaction between the economy and the politics. These issues raise a host of theoretical and empirical problems that must be left for others to investigate.