Timur Kuran

Timur Kuran

Timur Kuran is Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His research focuses on (1) economic, political, and social change, with emphases on institutions and preferences, and (2) the economic and political history of the Middle East, with a focus on the roles of Islamic institutions.

His publications include Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification (1995), The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East (2011), and Freedoms Delayed: The Political Legacy of Islamic Law in the Middle East (2023).

He was educated at Princeton University and Stanford University. He directs the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS); co-edits a book series for Cambridge University Press, “Economics, Choice and Society”; and co-edits the Journal of Comparative Economics. As a promoter of expressive freedoms, Kuran is a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA), and he serves on the advisory council of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)