Search Results Modern Economic Growth: Rate. M. Umer Chapra, Islamic Research and Training Institute. Islamic economics has been having a revival over the last few decades. However, it is still in a preliminary stage of development. In contrast with this, conventional economics has become a well- developed and sophisticated discipline after going through a long and rigorous process of development over more than a century. Is a new discipline in economics needed? If so, what is Islamic economics, how does it differ from conventional economics, and what contributions has it made over the centuries? ![]() This article tries to briefly answer these questions. It is universally recognized that resources are scarce compared with the claims on them. However, it is also simultaneously recognized by practically all civilizations that the well- being of all human beings needs to be ensured. Given the scarcity of resources, the well- being of all may remain an unrealized dream if the scarce resources are not utilized efficiently and equitably. For this purpose, every society needs to develop an effective strategy, which is consciously or unconsciously conditioned by its worldview. If the worldview is flawed, the strategy may not be able to help the society actualize the well- being of all. Prevailing worldviews may be classified for the sake of ease into two board theoretical constructs (1) secular and materialist, and (2) spiritual and humanitarian. The Role of the Worldview. Secular and materialist worldviews attach maximum importance to the material aspect of human well- being and tend generally to ignore the importance of the spiritual aspect. The Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) Project Database has data on over 6,400 infrastructure projects in 139 low- and middle-income countries. The. New England College of Business specializes in accredited online business degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Invest In Tomorrow. They often argue that maximum material well- being can be best realized if individuals are given unhindered freedom to pursue their self- interest and to maximize their want satisfaction in keeping with their own tastes and preferences.[1] In their extreme form they do not recognize any role for Divine guidance in human life and place full trust in the ability of human beings to chalk out a proper strategy with the help of their reason.In such a worldview there is little role for values or government intervention in the efficient and equitable allocation and distribution of resources. . When asked about how social interest would be served when everyone has unlimited freedom to pursue his/her self- interest, the reply is that market forces will themselves ensure this because competition will keep self- interest under check. In contrast with this, religious worldviews give attention to both the material as well as the spiritual aspects of human well- being. They do not necessarily reject the role of reason in human development. They, however, recognize the limitations of reason and wish to complement it by revelation. They do not also reject the need for individual freedom or the role that the serving of self- interest can play in human development They, however, emphasize that both freedom and the pursuit of self- interest need to be toned down by moral values and good governance to ensure that everyone’s well- being is realized and that social harmony and family integrity are not hurt in the process of everyone serving his/her self- interest. Material and Spiritual Needs. Even though none of the major worldviews prevailing around the world is totally materialist and hedonist, there are, nevertheless, significant differences among them in terms of the emphasis they place on material or spiritual goals and the role of moral values and government intervention in ordering human affairs. While material goals concentrate primarily on goods and services that contribute to physical comfort and well- being, spiritual goals include nearness to God, peace of mind, inner happiness, honesty, justice, mutual care and cooperation, family and social harmony, and the absence of crime and anomie. These may not be quantifiable, but are, nevertheless, crucial for realizing human well- being. Resources being limited, excessive emphasis on the material ingredients of well- being may lead to a neglect of spiritual ingredients. Human resource planning has traditionally been used by organizations to ensure that the right person is in the right job at the right time. The greater the difference in emphasis, the greater may be the difference in the economic disciplines of these societies. Feyerabend (1. 99. Chinese edition of his thought- provoking book, Against Method, by stating that “First world science is only one science among many; by claiming to be more it ceases to be an instrument of research and turns into a (political) pressure group” (p. The Enlightenment Worldview and Conventional Economics. There is a great deal that is common between the worldviews of most major religions, particularly those of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is because, according to Islam, there is a continuity and similarity in the value systems of all Revealed religions to the extent to which the Message has not been lost or distorted over the ages. The Qur’an clearly states that: “Nothing has been said to you [Muhammad] that was not said to the Messengers before you” (Al- Qur’an, 4. If conventional economics had continued to develop in the image of the Judeo- Christian worldview, as it did before the Enlightenment Movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there may not have been any significant difference between conventional and Islamic economics.However, after the Enlightenment Movement, all intellectual disciplines in Europe became influenced by its secular, value- neutral, materialist and social- Darwinist worldview, even though this did not succeed fully.All economists did not necessarily become materialist or social- Darwinist in their individual lives and many of them continued to be attached to their religious worldviews.Koopmans (1. 96. 9) has rightly observed that “scratch an economist and you will find a moralist underneath.” Therefore, while theoretically conventional economics adopted the secular and value neutral orientation of the Enlightenment worldview and failed to recognize the role of value judgments and good governance in the efficient and equitable allocation and distribution of resources, in practice this did not take place fully.The pre- Enlightenment tradition never disappeared completely (see Baeck, 1. Zu Aio Credit Card Tools V2 . There is no doubt that, in spite of its secular and materialist worldview, the market system led to a long period of prosperity in the Western market- oriented economies.However, this unprecedented prosperity did not lead to the elimination of poverty or the fulfillment of everyone’s needs in conformity with the Judeo- Christian value system even in the wealthiest countries.Inequalities of income and wealth have also continued to persist and there has also been a substantial degree of economic instability and unemployment which have added to the miseries of the poor. Usb Disk Security Full 2013 . This indicates that both efficiency and equity have remained elusive in spite of rapid development and phenomenal rise in wealth.Consequently there has been persistent criticism of economics by a number of well- meaning scholars, including Thomas Carlyle (Past and Present, 1. John Ruskin (Unto this Last, 1. Charles Dickens (Hard Times, 1. England, and Henry George (Progress and Poverty, 1. America. They ridiculed the dominant doctrine of laissez- faire with its emphasis on self- interest. Thomas Carlyle called economics a “dismal science” and rejected the idea that free and uncontrolled private interests will work in harmony and further the public welfare (see Jay and Jay, 1. Henry George condemned the resulting contrast between wealth and poverty and wrote: “So long as all the increased wealth which modern progress brings goes but to build great fortunes, to increase luxury and make sharper the contrast between the House of Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot be permanent” (1. In addition to failing to fulfill the basic needs of a large number of people and increasing inequalities of income and wealth, modern economic development has been associated with the disintegration of the family and a failure to bring peace of mind and inner happiness (Easterlin 2. Oswald, 1. 99. 7; Blanchflower and Oswald, 2. Diener and Oshi, 2. Kenny, 1. 99. 9). Due to these problems and others the laissez- faire approach lost ground, particularly after the Great Depression of the 1. Keynesian revolution and the socialist onslaught. However, most observers have concluded that government intervention alone cannot by itself remove all socio- economic ills.
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