FISCAL POLICY IN AN ISLAMIC ECONOMY AND THE ROLE OF ZAKAT

Mohammed B. Yusoff ()
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Mohammed B. Yusoff: Department of Economics, Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, P. O. Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

IIUM Journal of Economics and Management, 2006, vol. 14, issue 2, 117-146

Abstract: This study incorporates zakat into a simple macroeconomic model of an Islamic economy and analyzes the role of zakat in the national income determination. The reduced form aggregate consumption function suggests that the determinants of consumption are: Zakat expenditure, taxes, income and asset holdings of individuals. Zakat could be used as a counter-cyclical policy through discretionary and non-discretionary fiscal policy. Discretionary fiscal policy is carried out by varying the disbursement of zakat to the recipients. During the expansion phase of the business cycle, the government reduces zakat expenditure to close the inflationary gap. This action helps increase the zakat surplus, in the Baitul-Mal. Likewise zakat expenditure could be increased by using the zakat surplus accumulated during the boom periods, when the economy is in the down-swing to spur aggregate spending and economic activities. Therefore, zakat could complement taxation and government spending as tools of stablization policy.

Keywords: Fiscal policy; Islamic economy; Zakat. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E20 E62 H30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ije:journl:v:14:y:2006:i:2:p:117-146

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