Prof. Dr. Kuran analyzed the Institutional Roots of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East Kuran identifies that Islamic law and the waqfs lied at the root of the underdevelopment.

ANKARA- Research by Prof. Dr. Timur Kuran titled "Institutional Roots of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East" concludes that  Islamic law and waqfs hindered economic development.

Prof. Kuran, one of the prominent experts on the economic history of the Middle East participated in the conference of the Middle East Economic Association which convenes a number of academic economists studying on the Middle Eastern economies. Kuran, professor at Duke University participated the conference with the sponsorship of TEPAV presented the research titled "Institutional Roots of Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East."

Kuran maintained that the research sought to find out why the Middle East did not have any large scale, long-lasting, self governing private organizations and underlined that this delay was the main reason for economic underdevelopment. Kuran provided a an explanation with three key components:

"1. The Islamic inheritance law, along with its marriage laws, helped to keep partnerships small, and therefore to limit pressures for organizational innovation.

2. The waqfs served the institutional role that in the West corporations served. Many people had a vested interest in the continuation of the waqf system. Waqfs sucked capital out of the commercial sector.

3. When large and durable organizations became essential, the corporation could not be transplanted from abroad, because the institutional preconditions were lacking, and that was a consequence of the inheritance system."