Economics, ethics and religion: Jewish, Christian and Muslim economic thought

There is a revival of interest by economists in ethical issues and beliefs, and by moral philosophers and theologians in economics. This book is intended to make a contribution to this cross-fertilisation of ideas. Rodney Wilson has undertaken an extensive survey of Jewish, Christian and Muslim views on economics, and reviewed the rapidly expanding business ethics literature from a religious perspective. The juxtaposition of the work of theologians and moral philosophers with that of economists results in some interesting comparisons.

Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Table and Figure List -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Economics and Ethics -- Is There a Place for Morality in Economics? -- The Motivation of Homo Oeconomicus -- Needs, Wants and Scarcity -- Ethical Implications of Contemporary Methodological Debate -- Ethical Economics as a Specialism -- 2 Judaism -- Jewish Law and Economics -- Wealth and Possessions -- Money, Banking and Interest -- Markets, Fair Trading and Government Regulation -- The Theory of Prices in Talmudic Literature -- Resource Allocation in a Perfect Static Economy -- Exchange, Equivalence and the Role of Money -- Scarcity, Rationality and Economic Motivation -- Is There a Distinctly Jewish Economic System? -- Secularist Influences on the Economy of Modern Israel -- Manifestos of the Religious Parties in Israel -- Modern Western Jewish Thinking on Economic Justice -- The Contribution of Judaism to Economics -- 3 Christianity -- A Biblical Approach to Economic Understanding -- The Christian View of Wealth -- Resource Management through Christian Stewardship -- Economic Perceptions of Early Christian Saints and Scholars -- Scholastic Views on Values and Prices -- Aquinas's Position on Usury -- Protestantism and Capitalism -- Modern Christian Economists' Views on Economics -- A Christian Economist in Support of Deregulation -- Recent Theological Perspectives on Economics -- Christianity and the Market -- The Changing Nature of Catholic Economic Debate -- Christian Economic Values -- 4 Islam -- Sources of Islamic Economic Philosophy -- The Koranic Teaching on Commerce -- Just Rewards in an Islamic Economy -- The Prohibition of Riba -- Early Pioneers of Islamic Economics -- Modern Muslim Approaches to Economics -- An Islamic Alternative to Marxism -- Islam and Capitalism -- Islamic Economics in the Modern Middle East.