Discussant Cihan Artunç (Middlebury College) reflects on the causes of urbanization and structural change, as well as the role of agglomeration economies. Many thanks for the thoughtful discussion.

Did urbanization and occupational change follow linear paths across regions and what does this reveal about industrialization? Efe Erünal (Koç University) examines this using long-run, harmonized data from the Ottoman and interwar periods. #EconomicHistory #Industrialization

How did telegraphy strengthen state capacity? Yıldırım, Akyıldız and Cosgel show that in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire, it did so by linking physical infrastructure with internal labor markets and personnel mobility. #StateCapacity #EconomicHistory

Comments and questions by @msaleh1982 expand on alternative explanations, the measurement of state capacity, and highlight the richness of the data. Thanks to everyone for the stimulating discussion! #EconomicHistory #Telegraph

Ready to start Session II, chaired by Cihan Artunç. Two papers explore the development of the postal and telegraph network as well as structural changes in urban employment and urbanization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A lively discussion by Şevket Pamuk (Boğaziçi University), who offered insightful comments and proposed several avenues to expand the research agenda. Many thanks for the excellent suggestions and thoughtful questions.

How did Import Substitution Industrialisation and market liberalisation shape the emergence and consolidation of Turkey’s automotive industry? Seven Ağır (Middle East Technical University) examines this, bridging business history and comparative political economy. #EconomicHistory #BusinessHistory

How did foreign aid interact with local institutions during the early Cold War? Adoración Álvaro-Moya (@cunef.bsky.social) and Núria Puig (@ucm.es) examine business education as a key transmission channel in Turkey and Spain. #EconomicHistory

Thanks so much to Ali Coşkun Tuncer (@ucl.ac.uk) for discussing the paper by @diclenuraktan and for offering very useful comments and suggestions, which led to a very engaging discussion (@msaleh-econhistory.bsky.social @cartunc.bsky.social and Onur Yükçü)!

How did Turkey’s banking system move from public dominance to consolidation? @diclenuraktan.bsky.social analyzes six decades of institutional change in commercial banking, from the 1960s to the 2010s. #EconomicHistory #BusinessHistory

Session I, chaired by Onur Yükçu is about the political economy of business and industry: banking consolidation, foreign aid & business education during the Cold War, and the rise of Turkey’s automotive sector. We are ready for some fun contributions!

Great to see my review of this fascinating collection on cross-regional labor history of Greece and Turkey being shared! 📖

Papastefanaki, Leda and M. Erdem Kabadayı, eds. 2022. Working in Greece and Turkey: A Comparative Labour History from Empires to Nation-States. New York: Berghahn Books, 2022. 342 pp. Reviewed by @diclenuraktan.bsky.social (@ub.edu‬) revistes.ub.edu/index.php/Hi...