A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY THEORY OF ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

The primary purposes of this paper are (i) to elicit from IBN KHALDUN'S wider and more complicated theory of the evolution of civilization his theory of economic growth and development and (ii) to show how he geared together the economic and non-economic factors to produce a coherent and constructive theory of the development of society from the subsistence of the affluent stage.
Earlier studies of the economics of IBN KHALDUN, the celebrated fourteenth-century thinker, have failed to stress his preoccupation with economic development and growth. Consequently, such studies do not give an accurate assessment of his contribution and place in the evolution of economic thought. This paper attempts first to elicit his theory of economic growth and development from his wider and more complicated account of the evolution of civilizations, and secondly it shows how he geared together the economic and non-economic factors to produce a coherent and constructive theory of the development of society from the substance to the affluent stage. IBN KHALDUN'S theory, which suffers from a number of technical drawbacks, remains relevant today, in that it illustrates the value of a multidisciplinary approach to a very complicated process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]