Islamic economics

“So we thought that some kind of a big idea is needed to reform, to totally rethink fundraising... Instead of people running in the dark, trying to find their own match, who will be willing to, has the same goals, instead of all of that, we thought... there is something new [that] needs to be invented, and we came up with this idea of issuing bonds, press freedom bonds. If there are investors willing to finance US Government budget deficit, why wouldn’t we find investors willing to finance Press Freedom deficit. We’ve decided to do it this fall. We will issue them probably in denominations of $1000... if we ever survive to actually issue them, find enough investors so this can be considered a success, there’s nothing stopping the next organization to start to issue bonds next spring, and those can be environmental bonds. And then, two weeks later, Iqbal Quadir can issue his ‘electricity in Bangladesh’ bonds, and before you know it, any social cause can be actually financed in this way.“

That was from Sasa Vucinic, speaking at the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California, more than two years ago. Vucinic, co-founder of the Media Development Loan Fund, was the editor-in-chief and co-founder of an independent radio station in Belgrade and is a passionate advocate for free, independent press all over the world.

Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, which pioneered the strategy of economic development through collateral-free business loans to the poor in Bangladesh, have won the 2006 Nobel peace prize! The Guardian story has a good summary of what his microcredit scheme entails, for those who haven't heard of it before.

Dr. Yunus has been a national hero in Bangladesh for years now, and his microcredit model inspired me to write my first published piece on religion (my Islamic economics article way back in 1994; the conclusion mentions Grameen Bank in particular).