A critique of the present state of teaching of Economics at the university, level in Muslim countries should focus mainly on two points: how far it is relevant to the actual working of our economics and how far it is in harmony with our aspiration to transform these into Islamic economies. Such a critique would be tile proper starting point in suggesting changes that would harness teaching of economics for proper management of these economics and for accelerating their development along Islamic lines. It may be said that economics is primarily, an understanding of how the economy functions; the business of transformation and development can be taken up only at a later stage. The implication is that the latter should not be allowed to interfere with the former.
Two points are made to meet this objection. Firstly, it must be our economies that we understand and explain. not some other economy or even a hypothetical one. Secondly, what we try to understand and analyse has the potentiality to change. As Muslims do have clear preferences on the desired direction of change, this potentiality should also be explored with the desired changes in view. Teaching of economics in Muslim countries should, therefore, be renewed and its content and serve the cause of Islamic transformation and economic development of these countries. Modern economic which are presently teaching is in fact capitalist economics which is largely based on the British and. more recently on the American experience. As J.R. Hicks said on receiving the Nobel Prize for Economics in November 1971: Economics is to so large an extent a British Science. The point has also been made earlier by Joan Robinson who, while introducing her in Exercises in Economic Analysis, argued that "English Economists, from Ricardo to Keynes, have been accustomed to assume as a accepted background the and problems of the England each of his own day: when their works are studied in other climes and other periods by readers who import other assumptions. a great deal of confusion and argument at cross-purposes arises in consequence. Standard economics is supposed to explain the modus operandi of an idealised economic. Its concepts of man, property, freedom, competition, and the role it envisages for the stares, are all in particular ethos and cultural milieu of Eighteen and Nineteenth centuries England. Far from being universal, some of these concepts are quite for the present day Muslim societies.
Following its basic postulate that pursuit of self interest by each individual rebounds to the benefit or all, it focuses its attention on the material and technical problem of maximum production, and ignores the human and moral problem of just distribution Thus the modern capitalist economics has three main faults: It treats particular attitudes and institutions as if they were universal which they are no.: It suppresses the moral problem and extols the technical: and, lastly, it almost ignores the powerful agency of the stare and its positive role in economic management It is a fact that economics developed in an era of colonisation and imperialism. If the economics of the closed society suffers is from the defect of idealising the emergent British merchant and industrialist, suppressing the problem of distribution and immobilising the state, application of economic theory to international trade arid international finance is biased in favour of the
coloniser, the Bankers and Financiers and the Imperial Powers. It is not only inadequate to handle the problems of the developing countries of the Third world, its value for them is largely negative. Despite the claims of this economics to being universal in its application, a number of eminent economists who have been concerned with the problems of development, notably, Lewis, Schultz, Kuznets, Galbraith and Myrdal have emphasised its inadequacies from the view point of the Third World. There is no need, however, to dwell too long on the inadequacies of modern economics in a general way. Let us turn to some of - its basic concepts and see how they, are value-loaded oriented to individualism, exploitative capitalism and imperialism, and strongly biased against a social and moral approach to economic affairs. We shall select a few of them: economic rationality, capital, loan and development. Before we examine these concepts it would be useful to expose the fallacy that a suitable dose of socialist economics will, redress the wrong done by, exclusive reliance on modern economics. Marx did nor visualise a man different from the one his predecessors had in view. Socialist economics is distinguished by, its elevation of the state to the position of the chief economic agent which owns all resources allocates them and manages production and distribution in a planned manner. The market is replaced by the state as the mechanism for choice, though partially, Man the individual becomes a passive agent not to be trusted with freedom. This swing from one extreme to another is neither realistic nor does it suit the temper of the Islamic peoples. This approach is not very, relevant to the present day Muslim economies which are far from being socialistic. It is not in harmony with the desired Islamic direction of change either. It might be argued that socialist economics gives priority to distribution over production. But it is not a moral priority rooted in human attitudes. It is mechanical priority exclusive by relying on coercion. The basic concerts of Marxian economics: labour, surplus value and classes are destructive of the capitalist system out they are poor ingredient for a constructive program of action. A critical examination of these concepts would reveal their ideological bias and convince that these too are misfits in the conceptual framework of Islamic economics. They are of little use in understanding, our own economic problems. Limitation of time and space do not permit us, to go into greater details as far as a critical review of socialist concepts is concerned. We shall therefore, proceed to examine the capitalist concepts mentioned above. Some Alien concepts Erratic and inconsistent behaviour is nor amenable to scientific analysis leading to generalisation that could have some predictive value. Their statistical study has some predictive value for groups but not for individuals. This is possible only, with consistent behaviour resulting from deliberate choice guided by certain norms. All intelligent persons try to be rational in this sense, their success depending on the availability of relevant information. It is reasonable, therefore, one to assume rational behaviour as the basis of economic of households and firms. But economic rational assumed by modern economics goes farther than that. It regards maximisation of advantage for the self as the issues of attribute of all economic agents. The consumer maximise utility or satisfaction and the firm maximises profits. The concept is strongly individualistic and utilitarian. Altruism or one caring for the Rood of others in one's choice is ruled out. Time horizon is narrowed down to the rear future if rot to the present. A care for life here-after is thus excluded, however genuine one's faith in it. The concept tends to regard non-economic ends irrelevant for choice, in so far as utility, satisfaction and profits are interpreted in purely economic terms. As maximisation of profits implies minimisation of costs, the focus is on direct costs to the individual ignoring ecological and socio-cultural costs. Thus the concept of economic rationality, enshrines the materialistic individualistic this worldly, approach to life in vogue in the hey day of capitalism. These were days of 1 aversion to reli2ion and morality and revolt against the church. Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest further sanctified examination of the weak by the strong in the name of economic rationality. The idea of superiority of the white races justified imperialism. The concept of economic rationality is not suitable for the analysis of behaviour in Muslim Countries mainly, due to two reasons. It is not realistic. Men do care for the good of others besides caring for their own food. Their choice is influenced by their assessment of its possible consequences for the society or for their neighbour, etc. They do care for the life here-after. The choice as consumers and their decision as producers, employers, traders etc. is influenced by its value or disvalue in the life here-after. They are also motivated by social, cultural and political considerations, besides purely, economic considerations. These
tendencies may be strong or weak depending on the extent of available information and the strength of the relevant commitment. Yet the tendencies are there. A concept of economic rationality is given the status of a basic assumption which has a tendency! to serve as a norm. Men tend to regard it as the proper wave to behave. That is the difference between human sciences and natural sciences, the object in the later remain unaffected by any assuming the scientist makes regarding its behaviour. No wonder that altruism, other wordily, considerations and non economic motives tend to be regarded as irrational modes of behaviour by those who take economics When economic theory is applied to practical problems and policy prescriptions are made, this bias results in the neglect of vital interests of society and its individuals. This is the second reason why economic rationality, cannot be admitted in the conceptual frame-work of Islamic economics. It would hinder the process of Islamic transformation by, virtue of its normative role. Islamic economists have suggested its replacement by, the concept of Islamic rationality implying orientation of action towards maximal conformity with the Islamic norms. This concept too is normative in nature, but it would serve as a better tool of analysis if due allowance is made for weakness of the Islamic commitment in present day Muslim societies. It is a broader concept than that of economic rationality and closer approximation to the actual reality. Its normative role will promote the cause of Islamic transformation of our societies. Capital A crucial concept of modern economics that does not suit the conceptual frame-work- of Islamic economics is that of capital as a separate factor of production independent of enterprise. Islam does not recognise capital's claims to a guaranteed positive return in form of rate the rate of interest. It does, however, recognise its share in the profits of the enterprise in which t is invested provided it is exposed to the risks of enterprise and takes the loss., if any, capital borrowed with guarantee of repayment, irrespective result of the enterprise has no claim to a share in the net produce, risk capital is a factor of production while loan capital is not. That, of course, is the position regarding money capital. Money capital enables command over capital good such as machinery, tools and buildings, etc. Modern economics regards the latter as productive and then, in view of the capacity of money capital to command capital goods, attributes productivity to it also. In doing so, it slurs over the crucial difference between risk capital. This is not legitimate as the two enter the process of production in entirely different ways. Whether the use of capital goods in production will produce a value larger than their own value depends on the success or failure of enterprise in a world characterised by uncertainty of marker values. The uncertain world, in which capital and enterprise co-operate in production, does not guarantee positive value
productivity to either of them. The practice of treating interest as an item of cost and ascribing it to the productivity of capital is based on particular institutional set up of the capital society. All attempts to prove value productivity of capital goods have floundered because capital can be measured only in terms of
value and that requires prior knowledge of the rate of interest which the marginal value productivity is supposed to determine. In fact it is the institution of interest that makes it possible for capitalist economists to ascribe a positive return to capital that is its values productivity, and not the other way around. The concept of capital as a factor of production independent of enterprise makes this fallacy plausible. This fallacy must be exposed. This concept is a tool of exploitation and not a tool of scientific analysis. As a root tool of analysis its role is to legitimate the institution of interest. If confuses out understanding of the economic process, in which the value outcome of capital goods is uncertain, by ascribing a positive value productivity to it.
While describing this concept we do not propose to shut our eyes to the obvious fact that physical capital enters the process of production in a manner different from that of labour or enterprise. It has a distinct identity and a distinct role. These, however, are technical facts. Physical capital is a distinct factor of production in the technical sense. The phenomenon of diminishing marginal physical productivity of capital goods is also a technical truth. The downward slope of the demand curve for a particular capital good, e.g. a machine, reflects rising costs in the short run. The market price of machine is determined by supply and demand. It is an item of cost for the enterprise in which it is employed.
The fact that it remains employed over period of time is economically relevant for the money capital involved in procuring it and not for the machine itself. When we consider the money capital tied in the process of production, of no consequence what part of it is used to procure machinery and what part of it is used to procure labour or other ingredients. What is crucial in case of money capital invested in enterprise is whether it is exposed to its risks or not. Scientific analysis requires the distinction between risk capital and loan capital to take this different into account.
Loan
The concept of loan has underdone a significant change under capitalism. In the pre-capitalist era, loans represented real savings. Command over social produce acquired by making some contribution to it was temporarily transferred to the borrower. As the propensity of the borrower to consume is higher than that of the lender, the act of lending had an anti-deflationary effect which contributed to the health of the economy. With the advent of banking loan becomes so much purchasing power created and passed on to the borrower. It constitutes an additional claim to the stock of goods and services available with the society. It is not matched by any prior or simultaneous contribution to the social produce. It is, therefore, inflationary in its impact. In so far as bank loans are for consumption, no addition to the social produce is expected even in the future. In case of productivity loans an increase in production may take place after a time lag provided idle resources exist in the economy. A continuous stream of bank loans is bound to exert all inflationary
pressure in view of this time lag. A society which lacks idle resources or faces serious bottlenecks in supply of capital goods, skill or the raw materials required will be the worst sufferer in this regard. If the borrower is obliged to pay an additional sum of money, as 'interest' besides repaying the principal, in the pre-capitalists era it involved a simple transfer of command over real resources from one class of people to another. Payment of interest on money, created ad hoc for lending, magnifies this effect to such a great extent that its very nature chances. If the reserve ration is 10 per cent so that saving deposits worth 100 enable the bank to advance 1000 as loans, and the annual rate of interest is also 10 per cent, the amount transferred will be 100 per year. Lending of the 100 saved, without intermediation of banks and creation of money by them would, however, involve a transfer of 10 per year only. While the repayment of bank loan will extinguish the money the bank had created, the interest paid to the bank will remain. The redistribute role of the institution of interest or loans has therefore become too much decisive with the US advent of banking. Notwithstanding, the fallacy of the various justifications offered for the saver’s claim to interest, the new situation calls for a fresh justification for the lender’s claim to interest when the money lent is created in the process of lending, and it exists as long as the loan exists and gets extinguished as soon as the loan is repaid. It is a social convention that this enable this remarkable to happen, i.e. the habit of the people to keep their cash with the bank and deal in cheques, their confidence in the banking system being ultimately rooted in protection given by the central bank. It is the society which permits new purchasing power, unaccompanied by a simultaneous addition to social produce to be created, and tolerates the inflationary pressure involved in the hope that it will led to the subsequent increase in social produce through utilisation of idle resources. Why does the economics of capitalism fail to emphasise the obvious difference between loans that represent real savings and loans that to not? Why does it treat the creation of additional claims to social produce at par with a mere transfer existing claims? Why is the same concept supposed to cover two dissimilar entities?
The reason lies in the legitimation of interest bank loans which the cover of the old concept provides. once the social origin of the privilege extended to borrowers is recognised the society is bound to claim the resulting benefits, whatever they are. The bank could not be entitled to more than service changes, with an extra amount to cover the risk of non-repayment if it is not taken care of in a different manner that what the banks presently appropriate is much more than that. It does not suit the conceptual frame-work of Islamic economics to treat the two kinds of loan alike. Landing property must be distinguished from the social permission for exercising additional purchasing power in anticipation of additional production. From the Islamic view-point, the act of landing is an act of charity, a good deed. It is not an act of business motivated by profits. The borrower is not obliged to anything over and above principle borrowed. Lending belongs to the area of altruistic cooperation, an important dimension of economic activity in Islam. The social permission for exercising additional command over resources in anticipation of additional production is a new phenomenon. The rights and duties of parties involved have not been defined by the text of Islamic law. This has to be done now in accordance with the spirit of that law. It is evidence, however, that they would be different from those laid down for "loans" in the earlier sense. Development We need not dwell too long on the narrowness of the capitalist concept of development as much has been written on the subject. It was conceived in term of higher in production to the neglect of distribution. one must whose development was being talked about was it the development of man or that of matter. How can the development of human society be conceived of in terms of additions to irrespective of whether it is available to the bulk of its members or not. A rising GNP and an increasing poverty both in absolute and relative terms can and do go together. It is not only distributive justice that the capitalist concept of development ignores. It also ignores the ecological and social cost of development such as pollution, depletion of non-renewable resources and stresses and strains on the individual and the family. It fails to take into consideration man's relationship with nature and the quality, of his cultural life.
The narrow concept of development held sway for more than a century and it is only now that sonic economists are seriously attending to the other inalienable dimensions of development. The reason for this failure lies in individualism which formed the basis of economic thinking. A comprehensive concept of development requires a broader frame work of reference including all members of society, future generations, other living creatures and the non-economic interests of mankind. It is only such a broad concern that can suit Islamic economics. If we question such concepts as capital and development, what about money, income, employment, banking, insurance and a host of other concepts which are closely linked to the concepts exposed above and are the products of the same materialistic individualistic approach? The need for critical review of all these concepts is imperative and this task must have priority with Islamic economists. Structure of courses: Some Guide Lines Shall we, therefore, abandon teaching modern economic theories and their applications in such important areas as development planning, public finance, controls, monetary policy, international trade, etc. This, of course, is neither possible nor desirable. What is needed is a judicious selection of the more enduring elements in the corpus of modern economics and to handle them in a critical manner. This should be coupled with the injection of the Islamic policy ends and preferences in the applied areas and a reference to the actual economic conditions of our own economies at relevant points.
As we do so, new concepts will evolve and the old ones will get suitable modified to suit our needs and aspirations. But successful culmination of this process requires patience and perseverance, besides commitment to our ideals and imagination. Ideological groups have a tendency, to neglect somewhat the technical aspect of the matter in the first flush or their exuberance. We should be mature enough not to commit this mistake. The structure of courses outlined below guards against this possibility, while having due regards for the need to reform and innovate. Economics is presently, taught in the Universities of the Arab countries mostly at the under-graduate level. But many of these Universities are planning to start graduate courses in economics in the near future. The time is therefore opportune to focus attention on the structure of courses at the graduate level. The University of Cairo and Universities in the other Muslim countries with the long experience of graduate teaching and research in economics may also review their syllabus, and restructure their courses in the light of what follows. A course in Islamic economics is being taught in the universities of several Muslim countries. But the syllabus of this course requires a thorough revision in the light of recent developments in this subject. Of greater importance, however, is the need to integrate this teaching of Islamic economics with the teaching of economics in general. Nothing short of a fusion of Islamic elements with the valid and enduring elements of modern economics will answer our need. This is what has been suggested in the scheme outlined below. Price theory has always been the core of courses in economic analysis and it should continue to be seen. Laws of supply and demand should be taught sceptical attitude towards the various explanations offered to provide them with a psychological basis. Production, cost and revenue function, elasticities, equilibrium price, simple and terminating monopoly, price output trends in imperfect market, etc. should be given a treatment that takes into consideration alternative assumptions regarding the ends of households and firms, paying special attention to the ethical informed behaviour pattern. The concept of derived demand should be taught but the application of price mechanism to income categories such as wages, rent interest and prophet should be modified to give due weight to the moral, social and institutional factors involved in distribution. Above we have underlined the need for a revenue of capital as a as a separate factor of production. How this and the other factors of production are rewarded in the capitalist economy, is of some practical interest. How they are actually rewarded in our own economics is, however, a different question. Still more important is the enquiry into how they would be rewarded in the modified attitudinal and institutional frame-work of an Islamic economy. Macro economics comprising the theories of money, income, and employment is another core subject in modern economics. The basic tools of analysis need to be handled with, a clear comprehension of the type of economy to which this box of tools applies. Employment and output, effective demands, consumption’s function, multiplier savings investment relationship, accelerator and the nature of economic functions, etc. are concepts whose interpretation and relevance are bound to be affected in a context different from that in which they are evolved. In the analysis of aggregate demand and aggregate supply as determinant of employment and output, due to be given to such social forces as the popular will to develop and state initiative and leadership. The role of money and banking in a Zakat based economy should also figure in macro economic analysis. This is an example of the fusion of Islamic elements with basic economic analysis that is required. Keynesian macroeconomics, like all the other theories of capitalist economics is production-oriented neglecting distribution. Macro economic-theories of distribution hardly rectify this imbalance as they operate within the same basic frame-work. Elements of institutional economics can profitably be introduced in this analysis. Impact of changes prompted by Islamic norms of behaviour should provide another area of enquiry in this regard.
Microeconomics and macroeconomics have their application in a variety of areas such as welfare economics, growth, development and planning, finance, trade and international economic relations. But the element of relativity is larger in these branches and their content would have to be gradually replaced by what is more relevant to developing countries in general and the Muslim countries in particular. The received doctrines should be treated as doctrines of capitalism and the possible alternatives should be spelled out with a view to facilitating the choice of what answers the need of our own economics. Tools of analysis and techniques of economic management should be rested on the criteria of relevance for developing economies in harmony, with Islamic goals.
There is a strong: need for a comprehensive course in public economy which would replace the traditional course in public finance dealing with fiscal policy, debt management, physical control, and other instruments of policy through which the state can manage the economy with a view to securing the social ends. Economics of pubic undertaking should also figure in this course. Special attention should be paid to the lessons that can be learnt from the social experience of managing production, consumption, and exchange. Public economics is subject on which eminent Islamic thinkers such as Ibn Taimiyah (1262-1328 A.D.) have pronounced themselves and due attention needs be paid to their views. The fast expanding public sectors in Muslim countries further underlines the need for such a course. A course on growth and developmental planning is also necessary. Various models of growth and possible strategies of development should be identified and their social, cultural and institutional implications explained. As regards the techniques of planning should be on those suited to the home economy with an awareness of the alternative operative elsewhere economic.
Essential characteristics of an Islamic strategy of economic development should be spelled out with a critical review of the models suggested so far. A course on comparative economic system will bring home to the student the point that there exist alternative ways of economic management and the possibilities are by no means exhausted by the model presently operative. As variety of approaches within the system of capitalism, socialism, and mixed economics should be highlighted. Salient features of the economics system of Islam should be presented in such a manner that the possibility of variety in interpretation and interpretation is not missed by the student. Study of economic history should focus on past human experience of different regions, special attention being paid to the British, American, Russian and Japanese history. An approach to economic history of diverse people at different times broadens the vision and prepares the ground for affecting a synthesis and launching a new experiment rather than feeling committed to a particular model as something and inescapable. Economic history of the Islamic peonies especially those in West Asia and North Africa deserves special attention, besides the economic history of the home country in our universities. The subject can be covered in a series of core courses out of which a student would be given options. History of economic thought has been pushed out of the cure courses in most of the universities. It is now taught as an optional subject. We may adopt the same practice. Classical Political Economy, Marginalism, Neo-classicism and Keynesian economics, and Neo-Marxian as well as some of the other ‘heterodox' schools of thought should be studied in a series of optional courses. This group of courses should include one on evolution of' Muslim economic thinking with special emphasis on the contributions of Abu Yusuf, Ibn Taimivah, Ibn Khaldun and Shah Waliullah. This course should focus on the interaction between the Islamic in junctions and changing economic condition through the ages. This subject has been neglected by the historians of economic thought which necessitates encouragement in research and teaching at Islamic universities. An Important subject to be introduced at the undergraduate level and pursued in greater detail at the graduate level should be the structure of the economy of the home country, its evolution and its current problems. This in fact should be the hub around which all the other courses should revolve. It should be one of the compulsory courses. Area studies especially those concerning the countries of North Africa and South Asia, are necessary in view of the need for regional planning and greater co-ordination between the economies of the region. A series of optional courses should cover the neighbouring countries and other economics of the region. A comprehensive course on international economies comprising international trade, multinationals, world monetary system and financial institutions and economics of aid and foreign investment is one of vital importance for Muslim countries. The subject should be treated from the view point of the Third world and due attention should be paid to the implications of the new economic order advocated by it. This too should be a compulsory subject. There is no controversy surrounding the application of quantitative methods in economics which is taught in Mathematical Economics, Statistics and Econometrics. But these courses should be designed to answer the requirements of the analysis and management of our own economics rather than to attain formal excellence. They should be aids to clearer formulation of concepts and better comprehension or such interrelationships as are amenable to quantification, with the awareness that much of crucial importance escapes this net. In view of the growing use of quantitative methods in economics, an elementary course on statistical methods and quantitative techniques should be included in the core courses, the rest being covered in a series of advanced courses to be offered as optional subjects. As prerequisite to the compulsory course at graduate level there should be one at the undergraduate level in mathematics covering besides simple algebra, differential calculus and analytical geometry. The list or optional courses should further encompass various courses in applied economics, Economics of particular industries, Economics of Technology, and innovation. Financial organisation of Society, Comparative Banking systems, Labour economics, Population studies, Agricultural economics, Transport economics ere. This list can be extended or abridged depending on the actual needs of each country. As emphasised earlier two principles should guide the designing of the above mentioned courses and their teaching. First, the relatively more enduring out of the received concepts and tools should be retained and handled in a critical manner. Secondly, the objective conditions of our own countries and the relevant injunctions of Islam should be allowed to have their full impact on them. It is only in this manner that the present courses will gradually get adapted to our real needs and aspirations. Some of them may evolve into entirely new ones. This process has however, to be hashed by the introduction of two more courses as core subjects, one on methodology and the other on Islamic Economics. The course on methodology should expose the methodology of the Neo-classical- Keynesian modern economics as well as that of the Marxian and Neo-Marxian economics. This should be of followed by a review of some important attempts to devise a new methodology. Lastly, a possible Islamic methodology should be discussed in the light of the progress made so far by and Islamic economists. The course on contemporary Islamic economics is needed to keep the student fully posted on Islamic thinking in all the field, covered by the above mentioned subjects. Some of these contributions will have found their way in these courses. But there is a need of giving a view of whatever has been achieved till now by an Islamic critique of modern economics and by addressing Islamic principles to the actual problem of production, distribution, trade, international relations, etc. A synoptic view enables the student to have a grasp on the unifying principles and the basic conceptual framework of Islamic economics. Such a course at the graduate level requires that the student be given a course on sources of Islamic guidance at the undergraduate level. This course should comprise principles of Islamic jurisprudence and techniques of understanding and interpreting the Qur'an and Sunnah. As far as possible, the texts and precedents relating to economic affairs should form the raw material to be used. This completes our rudimentary survey of the courses which need be given at the graduate level in the departments of economics of the universities in Muslim countries. We have specifically mentioned an undergraduate course only where it appeared to a prerequisite to some course proposed at the graduate level. The list of undergraduate courses can easily be completed keeping in view the role that: these courses are intended to play with respect to higher studies. They have to lay down the necessary foundations for a more advanced treatment of the subject. There are some other courses which would he needed to familiarise the student with concepts, techniques and facts of the other sciences, especially social sciences, required for specialisation in-economics. A balanced training in history, political science and sociology coupled with the essential knowledge of Geography and the physical world imparted at the
undergraduate level will equip the student with a better understanding of the nature of economic realities and the ways to handle them. The task of Islamic transformation and balanced development of our economics, which should be the context in which economics is taught at the university level can not be attempted or even comprehended by concentrating on economic factors alone. Even the economic problems that we face: poverty, inequality, inflation, waste -- can not be analysed, much less solved, without reference to social, political and juridical factors. This calls for an interdisciplinary approach. The courses recommended above as part of undergraduate program will do some good in that direction. But they need can not be fulfilled by merely teaching these subjects in an unintegrated manner. Their lights must coverage on the actual problems before the student. It only the teacher who could do this, aided by reading which is the product of a similar approach. This calls for promotion of research. Interdisciplinary Seminars can also create a favourable climate. These topics are, however, beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it to note that changes in syllabuses necessitate new reading material and the radical changes suggested above may necessitate new teacher also. These may not be forthcoming until sufficient progress is made at the research level. It is time to wind up and give a summary outline of he list of graduate courses mentioned above:
Core Subjects (Compulsory) - Methodology of Economics.
- Microeconomic Analysis.
- Macro economic Analysis.
- Elementary statistical Methods and quantitative techniques. (pre requisite : An undergraduate course on mathematics)
- Public Economics.
- Economics of growth and developmental planning.
- Comparative Economic systems.
- International Economics.
- Structure of the (Home) Economy.
- Contemporary Islamic Economics (prerequisite : An undergraduate course on the sources of Islamic Guidance)
These are all semester-length courses. Assuming two semesters per year and four courses per semester, this leaves room for six optional courses. Alternatively, it may, be advisable to extend the course on macroeconomic analysis on two semesters as it includes money, and monetary policy too. This will leave room for five courses. These may be advised out of the following courses stream of courses. Quantitative Economics Economic History. Area studies. History of Economic Thought. Economics of Particular Industries. Agricultural Economics. Welfare Economics. Comparative Banking Systems Financial organisations. Labour Economics Population studies. Economics of Technology and Innovation, etc.
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