Should interest exist? - Non-usurious finance in economic thought, theory and practice (Ph.D. Thesis)

The first section of this thesis outlines the opposition to the use of interest within Western philosophical, religious and economic thought. The thesis begins with a description of loan institutions and traces the opposition to interest chronologically through ancient civilizations, Judaic teachings, early Christianity, and Medieval scholarship, continuing with Post-Reformation developments and the socialist critiques on the use of interest. The conclusion ties together common historical perspectives in opposition to interest and the difficulties in formulating arguments that do not rely on ethical presuppositions. The second section provides an overview of Islamic opposition to interest and assesses the feasibility of a financial system without interest. The Islamic critique is placed in the context of the methodology of Islamic economics. Some of the issues covered include: debt versus equity finance; bank instability, money endogeneity and the business cycle, the determinants of s