The Handbook of Islamic Banking comprises 25 studies by leading international experts on Islamic banking and finance specially commissioned to analyse the various debates and the current state of play in the field. This comprehensive Handbook provides a succinct analysis of the workings of Islamic banking and finance, accessible to a wide range of readers. At the same time, it seeks to bring the current research agenda and the main issues on Islamic banking before a wider audience.

This path-breaking book considers the recent trend for governments to look increasingly to private sector finance, provided by private enterprises constructing and managing public infrastructure facilities in partnership with government bodies. One outstanding feature of the book is that it brings together an academic assessment of this phenomenon with practitioner-based experience of organizing partnerships and advising government bodies in Australia, Canada, Continental Europe, Hong Kong and the UK. While the volume, as a whole, draws on this extensive experience of the market, there are...

This is a book for students seeking an introduction to Islamic banking. It covers both the theory and the practice of Islamic banking in enough detail to make it easy to read and interesting. Difficult concepts are clearly explained without being overpowered by mathematics, and it is a "one-stop shop" for information on Islamic banking. With case studies taken from Islamic to mixed systems the development of Islamic banking is thoroughly explored, with history and analysis complementing the more theoretical issues like the prohibition of interest.

This important collection presents an authoritative selection of papers on public private partnerships. The literature is relatively new, and draws on the disciplines of both economics and engineering. As well as examining the recent experience of these schemes - whose evolution has accelerated in recent years - this insightful collection also considers the intellectual origins of the concept, and investigates the organisational and risk management aspects of PPPs. It will be an essential source of reference for all those with an interest in this topical subject. 36 articles, dating from 1991...

Handbook on Islam and Economic Life is a unique study, one of the first of its kind to consider Islam within a broader economic sphere. Covering a wide breadth of topics and research, it explores how Islam impinges upon and seeks to shape major aspects of economic life including economic organisation, business and management, finance and investment, charity, mutuality and self-help, and government. It concludes by analysing the link between religion and development, the present economic situation in Arab countries and the causes of underdevelopment in Muslim countries.

A Ponzi scheme is one of the simplest, albeit effective, financial frauds to engineer, and new schemes keep coming forward. Despite this, however, people continue to invest in them. How are we to account for the seemingly never-ending lure of such schemes? In providing answers to this central question, this concise and well-researched book examines how Ponzi schemes operate, how they differ from pyramid schemes, Ponzi finance and other financial arrangements.

A Ponzi scheme is one of the simplest, albeit effective, financial frauds to engineer, and new schemes keep coming forward. Despite this, however, people continue to invest in them. How are we to account for the seemingly never-ending lure of such schemes? In providing answers to this central question, this concise and well-researched book examines how Ponzi schemes operate, how they differ from pyramid schemes, Ponzi finance and other financial arrangements.

This book provides an up-to-date study of public infrastructure in terms of the selection, procurement and delivery of projects. There is widespread acceptance that infrastructure is vital and needs increasing, yet less agreement about how it should be funded and procured. This book assesses in detail the features of various procurement options while also providing a framework for comparing their advantages and disadvantages. Drawing on international experiences and case studies, Darrin Grimsey and Mervyn Lewis consider some of the best and worst examples of public-private partnerships,...

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all impose obligations and constraints upon the rightful use of wealth and earthly resources. All three of these religions have well-researched views on the acceptability of practices such as usury but the principles and practices of other, non-interest, financial instruments are less well known. This book examines each of these three major world faiths, considering their teachings, social precepts and economic frameworks, which are set out as a guide for the financial dealings and economic behaviour of their adherents. Religion and Finance explores the...

Public private partnerships (PPPs) have been a controversial approach to procuring public infrastructure services. Against a background of recent trenchant criticism of PPPs, Mervyn K. Lewis, a leading scholar in the area, re-examines their utility. He questions what PPPs can and cannot do, why governments choose this route and whether PPPs can ever be good value for money. The author analyses the extensive use of PPPs for hospitals and transport megaprojects and outlines the key challenges to implementing them, shaping the future direction of the PPP model. Exploring the psychological...