Role of Learning-by-Practicing in the Long-term Growth of Islamic Financial System

The purpose of this paper is to construct a model of learning-by-practicing, explaining long-term growth of financial system. Benefiting from the literature of endogenous growth theories and using a dual financial system consisting of an Islamic financial system and a conventional one, the paper seeks to reveal some of the main growth characteristics of Islamic and conventional financial systems across countries and over time. The model suggests that learning-by-practicing Islamic finance will eventually create comparative advantage for Islamic financial system vs. conventional finance system provided it gets initially protected until sufficient level of learning accumulates in the whole Islamic financial system. Evidence shows that Malaysia with a dual financial system has been very successful in this regard, while Iran and Pakistan, each with single Islamic financial system, have not reached their expected goals.