Towards an integrative framework for understanding Muslim consumption behaviour

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to integrate Islamic and mainstream economics framework towards a more realistic understanding of Muslim consumption behaviour. Design/methodology/approach: The model incorporates some of the Islamic institutions like period-wise deduction of Zakat from endowments. It also includes bequests which could be significant given the Islamic injunctions on inheritance distribution and the significance placed on the institution of family. Furthermore, the model integrates the assumption that consumption opportunity set will axiomatically filter out the prohibited consumption goods from the consumption set in both contemporaneous and inter-temporal consumption. Findings: Zakat ensures contemporaneous redistribution from endowment surplus households (those having Zakatable endowments above Nisab) to endowment-deficient households (those having Zakatable endowments below Nisab). The lifetime resources are scaled down for endowment surplus households because of the payment of Zakat in both periods and leaving bequests in old-age period, while the lifetime resources are scaled up for endowment deficient households because of the receipt of Zakat in both periods and receiving the bequests in youth. Originality/value: The authors show how some of the Islamic principles and institutions can be integrated in the mainstream economics framework, especially in research studies where the objective is to understand and describe reality rather than persuasion and idealization.