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Recent trends in Middle East economic history: Cultural factors and structural change in the medieval period 650–1500 (Part one)
Author(s) -
Shatzmiller Maya
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/hic3.12504
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , middle east , islam , dysfunctional family , period (music) , empirical evidence , history , middle ages , development economics , positive economics , political science , ancient history , psychology , economics , law , medicine , epistemology , aesthetics , philosophy , archaeology , psychiatry
Economic historians have returned in recent years to blaming the prolonged economic decline of the Middle East on cultural factors. At the root of the problem, as they see it, were economic institutions rendered inefficient by the religion of Islam and Islamic law, and they have used evidence from the Islamic medieval Middle East as support. This paper reviews the various strands of the argument and critically assesses its use of historical evidence. It concludes that the evidence does not support the postulate that cultural factors generated a dysfunctional Middle Eastern economic system and offers an alternative analysis. It shows that empirical evidence ignored by the cultural factors argument points to growth promoting structural change and corresponds to what we would expect based on economic theory.