Permanent disequilibrium in mainstream credit markets have pushed the unbanked and underbanked households to frequent high cost payday loans for their liquidity needs. Associated with the latter are welfare-reducing issues of predation and debt-entrapment. In response to this market failure, we...

The ongoing political turmoil in the Muslim world necessitates an investigation of the factors leading to centuries of underdevelopment. This essay studies the various perspectives (for and against) attributing Islam as a factor holding back the progress of the Muslim economies. We critically...

Premised on the finance-growth-poverty nexus, economic advancement of Muslim countries must be underpinned by a robust financial system. Nonetheless, this measure requires foremost demystifying the riba enigma. In this paper we develop a rational expectations model to study the riba injunction...