If you had lived in the Middle East in the year 1000, you would have enjoyed living standards, technology and economies similar to those found in Europe.
Fast-forward 1000 years and the Middle East is drastically underdeveloped compared to the West.
What happened during this millennium has been a long-debated and controversial topic.
Some have suggested that geography, colonialism, Muslim attitudes or some incompatibility between Islam and capitalism have hindered the Middle East.
Unsatisfied with those explanations, Duke professor Timur Kuran offers a new answer: starting around the10th century, Islamic legal institutions slowed or blocked the emergence of central features of a modern economy.
His new book, "The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East" (2010, Princeton University Press), aims to make sense of the Middle East's transformation from an economically advanced region to an economic laggard.
"Classical Islam's distinct combination of economic institutions was obviously compatible with success in the medieval global economy," says Kuran, a professor of both economics and political science. "But they failed to produce the transformations necessary for keeping the Middle East globally competitive."
In his 424-page book, Kuran offers thoughtful treatment of this sensitive subject, carefully examining the causes that began well before the symptoms of the economic divergence between the West and the Middle East were noticeable.
Of interest to anyone seeking to understand the historical patterns that shaped the modern world, "The Long Divergence" tackles a wide range of topics, including the Islamic inheritance system, the absence of the corporation and the ascent of religious minorities, in order to offer a broad analysis of the region in a single work.
Kuran hopes his effort will help people develop a nuanced understanding of the history of the Islamic Middle East and perhaps also serve to cultivate an appreciation for the unintended consequences of institutions.