Monday, September 01, 2008

The Economics of Fasting


In welcoming the holy month of Ramadhan, I want to continue my long neglected first post on islamist economics series. But I first I must point out that fasting is not an exclusive domain of Islam, it is known in all religions and many ancient culture.

More is better, as the standard assumption in economics goes. Thus reducing consumption, the definition of fasting, should bring less utility right?

But there are also first Gossen law on diminishing marginal utility, meaning the more you consume of the same things the utility would be less on one additional unit of consumption. So less is more.

The first gulp of water at the end of long fasting day could worth more than a lavish meal on a full stomach. As they say, we don’t know what we got till we don’t get it.

So taking the two propositions above, could I conclude that less is better?

N.B

There are also interesting studies on how reducing calorie intake make bodies healthier and slow the aging process. Apparently human body work more efficiently if it has less inputs.




1 comment:

fajar said...

pertamax..
salam kenal