HAYYA BEN SHERIRA: AN ECLECTIC ECONOMIC THINKER IN ELEVENTH CENTURY BAGHDAD

Rav Hayya, a Jewish scholar of the tenth century, developed an organized theory of economics. His theory was culled from various Talmudic dictums as well as from Muslim thinkers that were known in the scholarly milieu of his time. Gleaning from these eclectic sources, Rav Hayya built his original view of what today is referred to as microeconomics. As such, he appears to have been the first in the Jewish world to create a coherent economic theory. In this paper, I will focus on four main principles that constitute his theory. I will then continue in comparing Rav Hayya’s theory to other medieval theorists of his milieu. Integral to Rav Hayya’s economic theory was a theological framework, making economic activity something in which God’s hand is involved.