Prizes

Best Monograph

Joseph B. Glass & Ruth Kark, Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem, The Valero Family 1800-1948, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, 2007.

Co-written by Dr. Joseph B. Glass, who received his doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Ruth Kark, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, this study of the Valero family in Palestine during the late Ottoman period and under British rule focuses upon its prominent members, their activities within the Jewish community and their contribution to the economic development of Palestine, as well as on the day-to-day life of the family.
The book tells the fascinating story of one of Jerusalem’s founding families, the Valeros, who established the first private bank in Israel. The Valeros owned considerable real estate in Jerusalem and its environs, as well as properties throughout the country, many of which they donated for the public’s needs. Members of the elite Jerusalem Sephardic community, which peaked in the beginning of the twentieth century, the Valeros were extremely active in public life. The book also serves as a cultural study of the life of a family from the higher echelons of Jerusalem society in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries.

Best Master’s Thesis

Nursel Manav, Devlet-Banker İlişkileri Çerçevesinde Baltazzi Ailesi [The Baltazzi Family from a State-Banker Relations Perspective], Institute of Turkish Studies, Department of Turkish History, Marmara University, Istanbul, 2009.

In her dissertation, Nursel Manav, a graduate in economics from Uludağ University, focuses on the Baltazzis, one of the most important families among the Galata bankers. Residents of Izmir and Istanbul from 1746 to the present, the Baltazzis, who started off their business in commerce, went on to dedicate themselves entirely to banking and emerged as one of the most important figures in 19th century financial history. Among the family members, Emmanuel Baltazzi was one of the two bankers who founded the Dersaadet Bank. Until his death, he remained active as a banker, lent money to the government, and managed his banking company in Istanbul along with his two sons who headed the company branches in London and Paris. Despite an unsuccessful attempt to create a bank by the name of the Ottoman Bank, his brother Theodore Baltazzi maintained his place at the top of the list of bankers making the most loans to the Treasury until his death in 1860. Emmanuel Baltazzi's son Aristide was also among the top bankers of the period and played a leading role in the foundation of various financial institutions. One of the family’s second generation bankers, Aristide Baltazzi occasionally accepted governmental duties and rose to prestigious positions. Emmanuel Baltazzi's other son Sypridon Baltazzi continued the family tradition and became a banker as well. Another active member of the family, Leonidas Baltazzi came up with a proposal for making the tobacco business throughout Turkey a government monopoly. Although his suggestion was later taken up by the Duyun-ı Umumiyye (Public Debt Administration), it cannot be denied that he pioneered the foundation of the Tobacco Régie in Turkey.

Best Scientific Paper

Hilary Cooperman and Relli Shechter, “Branding the Riders: ‘Marlboro Country’ and the Formation of a New Middle Class in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey”, New Global Studies, Volume 2, Issue 3, 2008.

In this article, a joint endeavor by Hilary Cooperman, currently enrolled in the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University, and Relli Shechter, who teaches in the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben Gurion University, the authors use the metaphor of "Marlboro Country" and Philip Morris's real-life effort to promote it, to discuss the shaping of new middle classes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey in an age of newfound wealth and economic liberalism. They show how Marlboro Country was lo­calized to fit each environment, reflecting an implicit dialogue (through market research) between this multinational company and potential consumers. They argue that in Marlboro Country, a new kind of global citizen-consumer with a modern, universal, urban, and young life-style was envisioned – albeit with a touch of localism. This citizen-consumer's global aspirations for American-style standards of living were harnessed, packaged and sold in the dream of Marlboro Country, but without the cultural or political baggage of Americanism. Documentation based on company archives allows an insider gaze into Philip Morris's global selling strategy, local brand adaptations, and its interaction with social transition in the emergence of mass consumer societies in the Middle East. 

Honorary mention (Doctoral Thesis)

Devrim Dumludağ, Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries: The Role of Institutions, Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, Boğaziçi University, September 2007.

In this study, Dr. Devrim Dumludağ, a researcher in the Department of Economics at Marmara University, aims to investigate the relationship among foreign direct investment and institutions in developing countries. Accordingly, he first examines the role of macroeconomic variables and institutions as determinants of foreign direct investment flows by applying panel data regressions in developing economies. Next, he applies a questionnaire survey to the executives of 52 multinational corporations operating in Turkey in order to reveal the impact of institutional variables on foreign direct investment.

Honorary Mention (Master’s Thesis)

M. Kazım Baycar, Ottoman Emigration to Argentina 1870-1914, Master of Arts in History, Boğaziçi University, 2008.

In this thesis, Kazım Baycar, a graduate researcher in the Department of Economics at Boğaziçi University, scrutinizes the history of emigration from the Ottoman Empire to Argentina between 1870 and 1914, based on primary sources obtained from the Prime Ministry Ottoman State archives and statistics held by Argentine governments, as well as on some secondary literature. He aims to shed light on certain major questions related to the emigration issue such as, among others, the causes of emigration to Argentina, the number of people who emigrated and who they were, the policy of the Empire towards emigrations, and what Ottoman immigrants did in Argentina. The thesis focuses essentially on the social and economic perspectives of the emigration phenomenon. It also tries to handle the issue within the frame of the global population movements that took place in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Thus, each question is analyzed in comparison to emigrations from other countries to Argentina during this period.