Economists find it hard to model religion in their forecasts. It’s also politically incorrect to distinguish between religions. So it usually gets overlooked. That’s a pity, because religion matters-it affects the way people behave in an economy, from starting the weekend on Friday, to refusing to accept interest on savings deposits.
The rise of the Silk Road is as much about the rise of Islamic economies. Thirty of the Silk Road’s forty-seven countries have majority Islamic populations. These countries averaged growth of 5.8% in the past decade. They also account for 1,220 million consumers, many of whom are young. Multinationals take note. These are tomorrow’s customers.
But what is an Islamic economy? There’s no hard and fast rule. Indonesia’s freemarket economy, for example, is a long way from Saudi Arabia’s more conservative-based approach.
Islamic economies do, however, tend to be closely linked. Whether it’s the fact that Muslim migrants make up a large share of Saudi Arabia’s expatriate workforce, the fact China’s mainly-Muslim Ningxia province is working hard to sell Hijabs and Halal food to the Middle East, or Kuwait’s efforts to buy stakes in Malaysia’s Islamic banks. And if there is anything that best captures the spirit of the old Silk Road, the rise of the Islamic economies is it.
