S. M. Ghazanfar (University of Idaho)

Submitted: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 08:21:47 -0700 (PDT)

S.M. Ghazanfar
Professor and Chair, Department of Economics
College of Business and Economics
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho 83843 
USA

Phones:  208-885-7144 (office)
         208-882-7619 (home)
FAX:	 208-885-8939
E-mail:  ghazi@uidaho.edu

Research:  Focusing mainly on economic thought (or perhaps social thought
broadly defined, including even evolution of scientific thinking), I have
been publishing and presenting papers as a challenge to the mainstream
Western assumption that the centuries between the Greeks and 13th
century's Latin Scholastics (St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274) were just
"blank" centuries--representing a "great gap" (ala' Joseph Schumpeter) in
human intellectual evolution!  That's a period of European Dark Ages, but
one that represented the zenith of Arab-Islamic civilization.  I have had
several publications and presentations on various nuances of this theme
(including papers challenging this misrepresentation of facts, as well as
papers on specific Islamic scholastics of that period whose economic
thought parallels that of contemporary economics in major ways, etc.).  I
have presented several invited papers at professional meetings on such
themes (MIT Conference on Ancient-Medieval Economic Thought, History of
Economics Society Conference, International Society of the Classical
Tradition, etc.)
  
Further, there were numerous of scientific developments in the Islamic 
world of that period (in all different fields), which are hardly 
mentioned in the mainstream literature--and I expect to be focusing in 
that area in due time.

Also, I have research interests in Third World development issues, as 
well as public finance issues; but my key focus has been on topics such 
as those identified above.

 My teaching interests in recent years have been (i) Third World Economic 
Development, (ii) Public Finance and Taxation, (iii) and Macroeconomics.  
As department chair, some key activities relate to administration.
 I have spent three years as a visiting professor at King 
Abdulaziz University, Jeddah (1983-86).  Also sometime in Pakistan.