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Timur Kuran

Professor of Economics and the Law, University of California, Los Angeles
King FAisal Professor of Islamic Thought and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles
kuran@usc.edu

Biography

Timur Kuran is currently a professor of economics and law, as well as the King Faisal Professor of Islamic Thought and Culture at the University of California, Los Angeles.  At UCLA, he teaches classes on microeconomics, economic development and social analysis.  Before taking this position, Dr. Kuran was the John M. Olin Visiting Professor at the George Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Kuran is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Sociological Association and the Middle East Economic Association. His current research interests lie in understanding Islamic Cultures and their results on economic performance.  He has authored several studies of Islamic society, including "Medical Roots of Middle Eastern Poverty," "The Provision of Public Goods Under Islamic Law," and "Islamism and Economics: Policy Implications for a Free Society.”

Dr. Kuran received his AB in economics from Princeton University, his MA in economics from Stanford University, and his PhD in economics from Stanford University.

Articles, Commentary, and Publications

• Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation

Events

• A Peculiar Path: The Rise of the West in a Global Context
• USAID Forum Series 7
• Why Is The Middle East Underdeveloped? Exploring the Historical Roots of Today's Problems
• Understanding the Process of Economic Change
• Politics, Markets, and Social Change
• Beliefs, Institutions and Social Change
• Cognition, Learning and Social Change