Nadeera Rajapakse holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris. She is a lecturer in English for Economics at the University of Pantheon-Assas and also works as a junior lecturer in History of Economic Thought at the University Pantheon-Sorbonne.
Her PhD dissertation, “Interest: the Just Price of Money. An Essay on the Thomistic Doctrine of Usury”, focuses on the medieval doctrine of usury, with the aim of analysing its core arguments and of confronting the doctrine with the practice of moneylending. his study of the medieval usury doctrine points to its authors’ concern about justice in exchange, which in their eyes is destroyed by the money borne by moneylending, which in turn damages the entire foundation upon which hierarchical medieval society is structured. If money was perceived as an agent of justice, the growing demand for credit following the development of trade from the XIIIth century onwards acted as catalysts of change in the doctrine. The concern for justice did not disappear, nonetheless; its agent shifted, from money to the marketplace.
Research areas: Religion and money; justice and ethics in the history of economic thought; Women migrant workers from Sri Lanka to the Middle East.
