Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation
Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation
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中东为何经济不发达：制度停滞的历史机制
DOI：
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发表时间：
2004
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通讯作者：
T. Kuran
中科院分区：
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作者：
T. Kuran
尽管一千年前中东并不是一个经济落后的国家，但到了世纪，它表现出了经济落后的明显迹象。这一转变的原因是，该区域法律的基础设施的某些组成部分停滞不前，因为西方的相应部分让位于现代经济。造成演变瓶颈的制度包括：伊斯兰继承法，它抑制资本积累;伊斯兰法中没有公司概念，因此民间社会薄弱;宗教基金，它将大量资源锁定在非生产性组织中，用于提供社会服务。所有这些阻碍经济发展的障碍，通过世纪开始的激进改革，基本上都被克服了。然而，传统的伊斯兰法律仍然是中东经济持续失望的一个因素。该地区私营经济部门的薄弱和人力资本的缺乏是传统伊斯兰法律的持久后果之一。
Although a millennium ago the Middle East was not an economic laggard, by the 18th century it exhibited clear signs of economic backwardness. The reason for this transformation is that certain components of the region's legal infrastructure stagnated as their Western counterparts gave way to the modern economy. Among the institutions that generated evolutionary bottlenecks are the Islamic law of inheritance, which inhibited capital accumulation; the absence in Islamic law of the concept of a corporation and the consequent weaknesses of civil society; and the waqf, which locked vast resources into unproductive organizations for the delivery of social services. All of these obstacles to economic development were largely overcome through radical reforms initiated in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, traditional Islamic law remains a factor in the Middle East's ongoing economic disappointments. The weakness of the region's private economic sectors and its human capital deficiency stand among the lasting consequences of traditional Islamic law.