In Sumerian economy they had debt jubilee every 49 years and when the ruler changed because only freeman were allowed to fight in a war...
Question.......supposedly, it is illegal to charge interest in Islamic cultures. Does that mean if you buy a car or home and need a loan they don't charge interest? Or do they figure the cost of a loan into the sales price? Or is the interest free idea a thing of the past? But, the idea of a Jubilee and erasing debts in 2016 is amusing. They probably did it 2500 years ago so that when the king died and a new one succeeded him. The new one did it to gain favor with the people so they would like him and not overthrow (kill) him. I guess it was their way of influencing elections and buying an election. Just like today, old wine in a new bottle. It will never happen no matter how much beer you drink to believe it.
In Islamic finance, there are ways around the prohibition of riba. For instance, you can read about "sukuk", which is a common mechanism nowadays.
it was a Jewish Law. Every 50 years all debts are erased and all land returns to it's original owner. It was never observed. Before the fifty years were up Israel had been over run by the Babylonians and forced into exile. But like most things in the old testament, it probably was written about first by the Sumarians. Only problem, hard to get a mortgage after year 20.
My understanding of Islamic finance is that instead of charging what we call interest they charge a fee upfront IE they get around the technicality....
The problem with a debt jubilee is that for every liability, there is a corresponding asset offsetting that. I'm not sure rewarding debtors is necessarily a good thing, even though our current financial repression taking place is more or less a slow-drip attempt of just that (rewarding debtors).