中东地区何以经济落后:经济停滞的历史机理  

Why the Middle East is Economically Undeveloped: Historical Mechanism of Institutional Stagnation

作　　者：Timur Kuran 张清津(翻译) 

机构地区：[1]美国南加州大学经济系 [2]不详

出　　处：《开放时代》2006年第3期90-105,共16页Open Times

摘　　要：虽然一千年以前中东地区经济发展并不落后,但到了十八世纪,其经济发展滞后的特征已很明显。这一转变的原因是,当其对手西方世界向现代社会转化时,中东宗教的法律框架中的某些元素却停滞不前。对进化起阻碍作用的制度包括限制了资本积累的伊斯兰继承法;伊斯兰教法中公司概念的缺乏以及随之而来的市民社会的薄弱;还有穆斯林宗教与社团组织,它将大量资源限制在非生产性的组织之内来提供社会服务。这些阻碍经济发展的障碍在十九世纪的激进改革中大多都得以克服。但伊斯兰教法仍是一个阻碍中东经济发展的因素。该地区私人经济部门的薄弱以及人力资本的匮乏,是传统伊斯兰教法的两个突出后果。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 trransformation is that certain components of the region＇s legal infrastructure stagnated as their Westam counterparts gave way to the modem 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 stabd among the lasting consequences of traditional Islamic law.

关 键 词：中东地区 经济停滞 经济落后 地区经济发展 伊斯兰教法 经济发展滞后 私人经济部门 社团组织 

分 类 号：F137[经济管理—世界经济]