Principles of Islamic economics

The objective of economic analysis has changed significantly since the nineteenth century. One can associate three major foci of development in it.1 In the first half of the nineteenth century economic analysis was concerned with the problem of distribution. After 1870 it became concerned with the problem of optimal allocation of resources among competing ends. Finally, since the rebirth of macroeconomic theory in the hands of Keynes, economic science has concerned itself with the problems of economic policy relating to employment, the generation of aggregate demand for goods and services and price stabilisation. In short, modern economics has been preoccupied by the idea of one goal — the satisfaction of the economic man, Marshall’s homo economicus, based on total, free and perfect competition.