Rulers, Religion, and Riches

In recent years, a large number of academic studies and research papers have been written by economists, sociologists, historians, anthropologists and others about the relationship between religion and economics, covering topics such as religion and economic growth, religion and economic development, religion and prosperity, religion and creation of wealth, religion and happiness, etc. In this context, many researchers, including the author of the book under review, have tried to investigate and explain the causes of the rise of the West and the decline of the Middle East. He explores the role that Islam and Christianity played in the long-run “reversal of fortunes” between the economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. Rubin was awarded the Douglass North Best Book Award for writing this book. Looking at the present day backward economic situation of the Middle East, compared to the well-developed economic situation of Western Europe, one wonders why it is so? Does religion have any role in this? Was it not, following the spread of Islam, that the Middle East was far ahead of Europe, which was a few centuries earlier, living in the Dark Ages? So, what happened and how can this complex reversal of fortunes be explained?