This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band o... more This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band o... more This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
Abstract: This paper examines the sources of autocentrism-elevating one's own group above other g... more Abstract: This paper examines the sources of autocentrism-elevating one's own group above other groups-and compares these tendencies in several civilizations, living and defunct: Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, Modern Europe, China, and Pre-Modern Islam. Medieval and modern Europe stand out from the others because of their emphasis on biological markers and their use of legalized discrimination against all other groups.
It has often been argued that bribery creates auction‐like conditions and, hence, improves the al... more It has often been argued that bribery creates auction‐like conditions and, hence, improves the allocative efficiency of bureaucratic decisions. This article shows that these auction‐like conditions are not likely to exist because officials will restrict access to bribery in order to reduce the risks of detection. Alternatively, officials may engage in supply‐stretching whose long‐term costs are likely to outweigh any gains in allocative efficiency.
A bstract. An examination and critique of the functionalist literature on corruption in the polit... more A bstract. An examination and critique of the functionalist literature on corruption in the political administration of Less Developed Countries (LDCs) indicate that its claims are without empirical foundation. Its theses with regard to the political, economic and administrative effects in most LDCs contrast with the facts. No benefits for development from corruption are found; market corruption, for example, does not appear to improve allocative efficiency.
Focussing on the rentier aspects of an oil economy, where the rent accrues in foreign exchange, t... more Focussing on the rentier aspects of an oil economy, where the rent accrues in foreign exchange, this paper constructs a simple Keynesian model of a typical oil economy. Increases in oil‐financed government expenditures in the short run, are shown to raise the general price level and the relative price of non‐tradables. Sustained increases in oil‐financed government expenditures are shown to result in an economy whose structure resembles that of the present day oil economies.
Abstract: This paper answers the charge of Orientalists–especially Bernard Lewis–that the failure... more Abstract: This paper answers the charge of Orientalists–especially Bernard Lewis–that the failure of the Islamicate to catch up with the West is due to the incompatibility between Islam and modernity. First, it must be noted that this failure is not specific to the Islamicate, but one which it shares with much of the rest of the world outside Western Europe. It counters the notion that the Islamicate went into all-round decline in 11th or 13th century.
Abstract: This paper reviews Bernard Lewis' book, What Went Wrong? It critiques his essentialist ... more Abstract: This paper reviews Bernard Lewis' book, What Went Wrong? It critiques his essentialist thesis about the backwardness of the Islamic world, viz., that the Islamic world fell behind the West because Islam is incompatible with democracy, denies rights to religious minorities and limits the rights of women; that Muslims lacked curiosity and made no attempts to catch-up up with the West. Instead, this paper seeks to place the phenomenon of Islamic decline in the context of world history and world economy.
Decreasing transport costs are incorporated in the standard partial equilibrium analysis of trade... more Decreasing transport costs are incorporated in the standard partial equilibrium analysis of trade by allowing the divergence—introduced by transport costs—between export and import price to decrease with the volume of trade. When the excess demand (supply) curve is steeper than the long run average cost curve for imports (exports), we observe that an import (export) tariff raises (lowers) the domestic price by an amount exceeding the tariff.
Abstract: Free trade between two countries (A and B) concentrates manufacturing, the invisibles (... more Abstract: Free trade between two countries (A and B) concentrates manufacturing, the invisibles (commerce, banking, shipping, insurance), capital, technology, and skills in A, the country that has an initial comparative advantage (however small) in manufacturing. Conversely, the country with a comparative advantage in the primary sector (B) experiences loss of manufactures, the invisibles, capital, and technology.
This paper seeks to explain Japan's competitiveness in terms of the character of her work-ethos f... more This paper seeks to explain Japan's competitiveness in terms of the character of her work-ethos formed in the Tokugawa era. Drawing on writings of European visitors to Japan from the 17th to 19th centuries, Japan's work-ethos is delineated in terms of a schema set out in the author's earlier work.
This paper tests Hirschman's hypothesis which suggests that relative labour productivity in LDCs ... more This paper tests Hirschman's hypothesis which suggests that relative labour productivity in LDCs vis a vis DCs may be higher in process-centered than in product-centered industries. This test makes allowances for comparisons to be made and similar wages in LDCs and DCs. The results do not support the hypothesis.
The impact of tariff protection on trade flows and the question of tariff redundancy in the prese... more The impact of tariff protection on trade flows and the question of tariff redundancy in the presence of a domestic monopoly (DM) has been fully examined in an interesting paper by Fishelson and Hillman [2]. Our objective in the present exercise is the modest one of extending this analysis to the situation where protection is offered by quotas, a situation common in most developing countries. This extension is of interest because it points to the possibility of a two-way flow of trade in the presence of a quota.
There exist now several quite elegant attempts to integrate transport costs into the standard gen... more There exist now several quite elegant attempts to integrate transport costs into the standard general equilibrium analysis of trade [2; 3; 4; 6]. But progress on this front does not appear to have been matched by interest in working out the implications of trade-related transaction costs (TTCs) in a partial equilibrium framework; this analysis remains where it was left by Kindleberger [7] and Scammel [9].
The standard two-sector model of trade has been modified to explore the consequences of removing ... more The standard two-sector model of trade has been modified to explore the consequences of removing its static framework. It has been shown that the reallocation effects consequent upon a change in terms of trade (or consequent upon the opening of trade) may lead to capital decumulation in the economy and, paradoxically, to an expansion of trade varying with the rate of capital decumulation. Thus trade expansion may be accompanied by economic atrophy.
Abstract: This paper summarizes the results of a book that examined the theory of the economic im... more Abstract: This paper summarizes the results of a book that examined the theory of the economic impact of colonialism, the economic policies pursued by colonial governments from 1800 to 1950, and the impact of these policies on economic growth, industrialization, literacy rates and stock of human capital in the labor force.
Abstract: The Qur'ān may be read as an epic in which God enters into a contest with Iblis–a conte... more Abstract: The Qur'ān may be read as an epic in which God enters into a contest with Iblis–a contest staged by God–over man who is both spirit and matter, light and darkness. Man is endowed with faculties of knowing–he has eyes, ears, reason and heart–and he is also free to choose his destiny, to choose God or Iblis. The earthly pull on man is strong, but God aids him through his prophets, and, in the Qur'ān, guides him through sustained reasoning to recognize His Creator, and to choose the path that will bring him back to his origin.
Abstract: This essay briefly visits the episode of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son–in the Qur... more Abstract: This essay briefly visits the episode of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son–in the Qur'ān and the Torah–and from this comparison deduces two Qur'anic principles of seminal significance: the autonomy of the individual and the intrinsic worth of all human communities.
This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band o... more This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band o... more This book discerns in the history of Zionism the plot of a Shakespearean tragedy.
A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
Abstract: This paper examines the sources of autocentrism-elevating one's own group above other g... more Abstract: This paper examines the sources of autocentrism-elevating one's own group above other groups-and compares these tendencies in several civilizations, living and defunct: Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, Modern Europe, China, and Pre-Modern Islam. Medieval and modern Europe stand out from the others because of their emphasis on biological markers and their use of legalized discrimination against all other groups.
It has often been argued that bribery creates auction‐like conditions and, hence, improves the al... more It has often been argued that bribery creates auction‐like conditions and, hence, improves the allocative efficiency of bureaucratic decisions. This article shows that these auction‐like conditions are not likely to exist because officials will restrict access to bribery in order to reduce the risks of detection. Alternatively, officials may engage in supply‐stretching whose long‐term costs are likely to outweigh any gains in allocative efficiency.
A bstract. An examination and critique of the functionalist literature on corruption in the polit... more A bstract. An examination and critique of the functionalist literature on corruption in the political administration of Less Developed Countries (LDCs) indicate that its claims are without empirical foundation. Its theses with regard to the political, economic and administrative effects in most LDCs contrast with the facts. No benefits for development from corruption are found; market corruption, for example, does not appear to improve allocative efficiency.
Focussing on the rentier aspects of an oil economy, where the rent accrues in foreign exchange, t... more Focussing on the rentier aspects of an oil economy, where the rent accrues in foreign exchange, this paper constructs a simple Keynesian model of a typical oil economy. Increases in oil‐financed government expenditures in the short run, are shown to raise the general price level and the relative price of non‐tradables. Sustained increases in oil‐financed government expenditures are shown to result in an economy whose structure resembles that of the present day oil economies.
Abstract: This paper answers the charge of Orientalists–especially Bernard Lewis–that the failure... more Abstract: This paper answers the charge of Orientalists–especially Bernard Lewis–that the failure of the Islamicate to catch up with the West is due to the incompatibility between Islam and modernity. First, it must be noted that this failure is not specific to the Islamicate, but one which it shares with much of the rest of the world outside Western Europe. It counters the notion that the Islamicate went into all-round decline in 11th or 13th century.
Abstract: This paper reviews Bernard Lewis' book, What Went Wrong? It critiques his essentialist ... more Abstract: This paper reviews Bernard Lewis' book, What Went Wrong? It critiques his essentialist thesis about the backwardness of the Islamic world, viz., that the Islamic world fell behind the West because Islam is incompatible with democracy, denies rights to religious minorities and limits the rights of women; that Muslims lacked curiosity and made no attempts to catch-up up with the West. Instead, this paper seeks to place the phenomenon of Islamic decline in the context of world history and world economy.
Decreasing transport costs are incorporated in the standard partial equilibrium analysis of trade... more Decreasing transport costs are incorporated in the standard partial equilibrium analysis of trade by allowing the divergence—introduced by transport costs—between export and import price to decrease with the volume of trade. When the excess demand (supply) curve is steeper than the long run average cost curve for imports (exports), we observe that an import (export) tariff raises (lowers) the domestic price by an amount exceeding the tariff.
Abstract: Free trade between two countries (A and B) concentrates manufacturing, the invisibles (... more Abstract: Free trade between two countries (A and B) concentrates manufacturing, the invisibles (commerce, banking, shipping, insurance), capital, technology, and skills in A, the country that has an initial comparative advantage (however small) in manufacturing. Conversely, the country with a comparative advantage in the primary sector (B) experiences loss of manufactures, the invisibles, capital, and technology.
This paper seeks to explain Japan's competitiveness in terms of the character of her work-ethos f... more This paper seeks to explain Japan's competitiveness in terms of the character of her work-ethos formed in the Tokugawa era. Drawing on writings of European visitors to Japan from the 17th to 19th centuries, Japan's work-ethos is delineated in terms of a schema set out in the author's earlier work.
This paper tests Hirschman's hypothesis which suggests that relative labour productivity in LDCs ... more This paper tests Hirschman's hypothesis which suggests that relative labour productivity in LDCs vis a vis DCs may be higher in process-centered than in product-centered industries. This test makes allowances for comparisons to be made and similar wages in LDCs and DCs. The results do not support the hypothesis.
The impact of tariff protection on trade flows and the question of tariff redundancy in the prese... more The impact of tariff protection on trade flows and the question of tariff redundancy in the presence of a domestic monopoly (DM) has been fully examined in an interesting paper by Fishelson and Hillman [2]. Our objective in the present exercise is the modest one of extending this analysis to the situation where protection is offered by quotas, a situation common in most developing countries. This extension is of interest because it points to the possibility of a two-way flow of trade in the presence of a quota.
There exist now several quite elegant attempts to integrate transport costs into the standard gen... more There exist now several quite elegant attempts to integrate transport costs into the standard general equilibrium analysis of trade [2; 3; 4; 6]. But progress on this front does not appear to have been matched by interest in working out the implications of trade-related transaction costs (TTCs) in a partial equilibrium framework; this analysis remains where it was left by Kindleberger [7] and Scammel [9].
The standard two-sector model of trade has been modified to explore the consequences of removing ... more The standard two-sector model of trade has been modified to explore the consequences of removing its static framework. It has been shown that the reallocation effects consequent upon a change in terms of trade (or consequent upon the opening of trade) may lead to capital decumulation in the economy and, paradoxically, to an expansion of trade varying with the rate of capital decumulation. Thus trade expansion may be accompanied by economic atrophy.
Abstract: This paper summarizes the results of a book that examined the theory of the economic im... more Abstract: This paper summarizes the results of a book that examined the theory of the economic impact of colonialism, the economic policies pursued by colonial governments from 1800 to 1950, and the impact of these policies on economic growth, industrialization, literacy rates and stock of human capital in the labor force.
Abstract: The Qur'ān may be read as an epic in which God enters into a contest with Iblis–a conte... more Abstract: The Qur'ān may be read as an epic in which God enters into a contest with Iblis–a contest staged by God–over man who is both spirit and matter, light and darkness. Man is endowed with faculties of knowing–he has eyes, ears, reason and heart–and he is also free to choose his destiny, to choose God or Iblis. The earthly pull on man is strong, but God aids him through his prophets, and, in the Qur'ān, guides him through sustained reasoning to recognize His Creator, and to choose the path that will bring him back to his origin.
Abstract: This essay briefly visits the episode of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son–in the Qur... more Abstract: This essay briefly visits the episode of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son–in the Qur'ān and the Torah–and from this comparison deduces two Qur'anic principles of seminal significance: the autonomy of the individual and the intrinsic worth of all human communities.
We test the structuralist hypothesis that industrialization is growth enhancing due to inherent d... more We test the structuralist hypothesis that industrialization is growth enhancing due to inherent dynamic efficiences of externalities. We used four data sets ranging over different country samples and in all cases found industry's contribution to economic growth significantly exceeded its share in GDP. Furthermore, we found our estimates to be robust in each case.
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A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
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A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.
A small band of European Zionists enters the world stage in late 19th century, determined to create a Jewish state in Palestine. This is their solution to the 'abnormal' condition of European Jews, who are without a land and are not a nation. To achieve this, they must seize Palestine; induce Western Jews to become colonists; and, above all, recruit Western powers to adopt their colonial project.
Zionists can only succeed by creating Islamicate enemies; they need resurgent anti-Semitism to send Jewish colonies to Palestine; and they must persuade/coerce the West to stand behind their colonial project. In succeeding, the Zionists merely transplant Jewish abnormality from Europe to the Middle East - and make it worse. In Europe, Jewish-Gentile frictions were local problems; in Israel, ominously, they have come to form the pivot of a global conflict that pits the West against the Islamicate.