Timur Kuran

Timur Kuran earned an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Princeton University in 1977, an M.A. in Economics from Stanford University in 1979, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 1982. He began his academic career at the University of Southern California in 1982 as Assistant Professor of Economics, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1988, Professor in 1993, and Professor of Economics and Law and King Faisal Professor of Islamic Thought and Culture from 2001 until 2007. During his tenure in Business & Economics at USC, Kuran's research examined the intersection of economics and religion, including the economic role of Islamic institutions, the history of Islamic economics, and the interplay between religion and economic institutions across civilizations.

Kuran specializes in economic, political, and social change, with emphasis on institutions, preferences, and the economic and political history of the Middle East, particularly the role of Islamic law and institutions. His major books include Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification (Harvard University Press, 1995), Islam and Mammon: The Economic Predicaments of Islamism (Princeton University Press, 2004), The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East (Princeton University Press, 2011), and Freedoms Delayed: The Political Legacy of Islamic Law in the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Other key works are the ten-volume Socio-Economic Life in Seventeenth-Century Istanbul: Glimpses from Court Records (İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2010-2013) and highly cited articles such as 'Now Out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989' (1991) and 'Availability Cascades and Risk Regulation' (1999, with Cass R. Sunstein). He has held fellowships including Guggenheim (2004-05), National Science Foundation grants (1985-1990), and multiple Earhart Foundation awards. Since 2007, he has been Professor of Economics and Political Science and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University, directing the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies, co-editing the Journal of Comparative Economics, and editing Cambridge University Press's Economics, Choice, and Society series. His scholarship has profoundly influenced fields like economic history, political economy, and studies of revolutions and preference falsification.

Professional Email: kuran@usc.edu