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This study aims to propose a new construct – prodigality and develop a measurement scale to support the construct.

Combining the paradigms of Churchill, Malhotra and Birks, the item generation and content validity yielded the development of a modified scale. Three main steps in assessment of the scale: dimensional structure, reliability and validity led to the development of a prodigality scale. A total of 32 items were generated, through assessing Qur’anic verses that are related to Muslim consumption patterns linked to in Islam.

In total, 23 items remained after content validity. A pre-test using exploratory factor analysis on the 23-item scale created a two-factor scale. According to extracted validity and reliability scores, prodigality scale was statistically supported. A pool of nine items is proposed for the eventual measurement of the prodigality.

The proposed measurement scale warrants further exploratory study. Future research should assess the validity across different Muslim geographies and Islamic schools of thought and practice.

Prodigality is proposed as a new construct that focuses primarily on the Qur’an and seeks to achieve relevance and acceptance by both Sunni and Shia denominations. The measurement scale is believed to extend the existing body of literature and contribute new knowledge on Muslim consumption.

The purpose of this study is to test Islamic religiosity scale’s reliability and validity and to evaluate the impact of Islamic religiosity on materialism in Turkey.

Using a quantitative research method, a self-administered survey was distributed to the students of two faculties – Faculty of Theology and Faculty of Business – of the same university in Izmir, Turkey. In total, 400 questionnaires for each faculty were distributed and a total of 529 completed questionnaires – 326 from the Faculty of Theology and 203 from the Faculty of Business – were returned. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted via SPSS and AMOS.

Islamic religiosity and materialism have been found to be negatively correlated, supporting the existing literature. However, not all the dimensions of Islamic religiosity (behavioral religiosity, spiritual religiosity and necessity of religion) had this negative effect on materialism (possession-defined success, acquisition centrality and acquisition as the pursuit of happiness). Negative influence of “behavioral religiosity” on all three dimensions of materialism was observed. However, the “spirituality” dimension of religiosity was found to have a positive impact, while the “necessity of religion” had no significant impact on the dimensions of materialism.

A sample consisting of undergraduate students might limit the generalizability of the findings to Turkish Islamic population in general. This study is one of the first attempts to test the Islamic religiosity scale which needs to be further analyzed and developed.

The present study will contribute to the literature by testing an Islamic religiosity scale developed by a Turkish researcher. Besides, this is the only study undertaken on the impact of Islamic religiosity on materialism using an Islamic religiosity scale.

This paper aims to examine the concepts of scarcity and abundance from an interdisciplinary perspective. It argues that the idea of economics, as the study of human behavior with regard to scarce resources and unlimited wants, leads to competition, confrontation and conflict, whereas the nature of humans is that of kindness, cooperation and sharing.

The paper uses content analysis of texts from multiple disciplines, using both deductive and inductive logic, to study the situation of scarcity and abundance, explore reasons and offer remedies. The paper consists of seven sections, five of which are the main discussion. Section 2 looks at the concepts of scarcity and abundance. Section 3 presents reasons for scarcity: economic and behavioral. Section 4 discusses the civilization perspective of poverty and wealth. Section 5 briefly looks at sustainable development and good governance. Section 6 argues in favor of simplicity and spirituality as remedies for the problem of scarcity, and Section 7 concludes the paper.

The paper demonstrates the relativity of the concepts of scarcity and abundance, points out the paradox of the modern consumer economies and argues that simplicity, spirituality and universal values are necessary to remedy the ills of overconsumption/overproduction, waste and inequality.

This paper offers spirituality and ethics-based remedies for the negative consequences of neo-classical economics and social Darwinism.

Introduction It is the purpose of this paper to examine the issue of federal deficits from a general, and thus, a broader perspective than is traditionally employed. It is maintained in this paper that the deficit is not simply a “government” problem — because a representative government can do little to balance the budget if the people are doing all they can, not only to reduce their tax liabilities but also to demand a continuous increase of benefits from government. The deficit should thus be considered as a problem of the entire society and analysed accordingly. Also, it is not merely an economic problem, but also a moral problem. More specifically, from a general equilibrium viewpoint (i.e. both the public and the private sectors are considered), the federal budget deficit can be regarded as a consequence of a society that places a high value on individual economic freedom, economic efficiency, as well as on competition for economic success. This is the case because economic freedom and competition tend to create economic insecurity and immorality, both of which incline to cause government expenditures to increase, taxes to decrease, or both. Hence, a long term solution for budget shortfalls would depend upon the possibility of whether the society as a whole can be made more economically secure and moral without the unnecessary encroachment upon individual liberty and upon the opportunity for competitive success.

IT is known that the Library Association Council has devoted watchful care to the position of libraries in the event of war. As we write, the international situation is as dark as it has been at any time since 1919, and many have that calm, cold feeling that there is nothing to do but to tighten our belts and stand againt the onslaught. Even if that is still avoided, as all who listened to Lord Halifax trust it may be, there should be active protection of the library service which is one of those things which might so easily go under in a time of stress. The Library Association has done well in submitting to Government that experience in the last war proved the value of libraries for information and as a factor in the morale of the people; that their services should, so far as possible, be maintained even during hostilities; that there would be need of library provision for people, and especially for children, “evacuated” to areas where the existing library provision might often be inadequate; and that library buildings should not be used for purposes for which they are unsuitable, seeing that there will be many halls, schools and other buildings that would be better for food‐control, recruiting and so on.

PRE‐INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY was bottom‐heavy. The majority of workers were muscle‐men, hewers of wood and drawers of water. Their jobs consisted of lifting, shoving, carrying and generally providing motive power. Society did not need these members for their manual skills, let alone their mental skills: it was their muscles that society was after. Above this brute mass there existed a thin upper crust of worker‐aristocrats — masons, carpenters — and above this, in turn, an even thinner skin of managers, administrators, priests, and generals. But because there was no mechanically‐produced power, a high proportion of society's members were condemned to spend the whole of their lives pumping power into the economy from their own bodies. That is why slaves were such a necessity in primitive economies.

It is an accepted opening for a speaker to begin by defining the subject of his talk. My concern, however, is not with a definition of library binding but with the approach to this subject which I have been prompted to take in my address to you this afternoon.

THE IRISH, it would appear, are not a romantic race ! They do not appreciate their works of art, neither do they revere their great writers. As James Joyce so aptly put it—

MOST PEOPLE at this stage in the mean, boring, money‐grubbing debate, when they hear the phrase Public Lending Right, reach for their ear‐plugs; when they read it, they promptly turn the page. So, to the dear few who are still with me I quickly say that this piece is only here and there about PLR. Mainly it's a sort of review of a sort of book.