Global Prices and Incomes, 1200-1950—First Stage, funded by the National Science Foundation, Grant Period: September 2004- August 2007.  

Ranked 8th in the list of most read Turkish economists in the World, based on RePec statistics.  Article ranked 4th among most read working papers authored by Turkish economists.  The story featured in Turkishtime (April 2006).

Understanding the Middle East, funded by the Connecticut Humanities Council, Grant Period: May 2002- June 2003.

Understanding the Middle East 2003, funded by the Connecticut Humanities Council, Grant Period: March 2003- June 2004  

The Helen Potter Award of Special Recognition, Association for Social Economics, 1997

Summer Fellow, Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, Boston University, 1991

Earhart Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Economics, 1987-88 and 1988-89

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of Iowa, 1987

SELECTED RECENT  PRESENTATIONS

"Stagnation and Change in Islamic History, Law and Economic Development Conference at Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands, Sept. 20-22, 2007

"Law, State Power, and Taxation in Islamic History,"   Economic History Association Meetings, Sept. 2007, Austin, TX.

"Law and State Power: The Institutional Roots of the Strong State in Islamic History," Institute for Economic Research on Civilizations Conference titled “The Economic Performance of Civilizations: Roles of Culture, Religion, and the Law” February 23-24, 2007 University of Southern California; Economic History Seminar, Yale University, February 28, 2007. 

"Agricultural Productivity in the Early Ottoman Empire," International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, Finland, August, 2006; Middle East Studies Association Meeting, Boston, MA, November, 2006.

"Tax Collection in History: Public Institutions and Institutional Change in the Ottoman Empire," International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, Finland, August, 2006; Washington Area Economic History Seminar at American University, November, 2006.

"The Economics of Ottoman Taxation," Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, November 29, 2005.

"Conversations between Anthropologists and Economists," Rhetoric Culture Conference in Mainz, Germany , July, 2005.

"Agricultural Prices and Incomes in Eastern Europe and Western Asia," Towards a Global Study of Prices and Wages Workshop in Utrecht, the Netherlands , August 2004.

"Taxes, Efficiency, and Redistribution: Discriminatory Taxation of Villages in Ottoman Palestine, Southern Syria, and Transjordan in the Sixteenth Century," Social Science History Association meetings in Baltimore, MD , November, 2003.

"Risk, Transaction Costs, and the Economics of Ottoman Taxation," Iowa Alumni Workshop, May 10, 2003.

"State, Peasants, and Differential Taxation: Ottoman Taxation in Palestine , southern Syria , and Transjordan in the Late Sixteenth Century," Middle East Studies Association meeting, Washington DC, November 23-25, 2002.

"Ottoman Taxation in Palestine , southern Syria , and Transjordan in the Sixteenth Century," Economic History Association meeting, St. Louis, MO , October 11-13, 2002

"The Economics of Ottoman Taxation," Cliometric Society meeting, La Crosse , WI, May 10-12, 2002.

"Rationality, Integrity, and Religious Behavior," ASSA meetings, Atlanta , GA , January 5-8, 2002.

"Islamic Taxation in Ottoman Palestine , Syria , and Transjordan in the Sixteenth Century," University of Massachusetts Economic History and Development Workshop, November 28, 2001.

"Procedures for Sampling the Ottoman Tax Registers (Tahrir Defters),"  Middle East Studies Association meeting, San Francisco, November 18-20, 2001.

SELECTED SERVICE AND OUTREACH

Director of Graduate Studies, Economics Department, Fall 2003 – Spring 2006.

Director of the Minor in Middle East Studies, Fall 2001 – Spring 2004.

Organized and directed Understanding the Middle East, (June 24-28, 2002), an intensive summer institute for elementary school teachers and library media specialists to develop curriculum materials to teach about the Middle East in elementary schools in Connecticut .

Organized and directed Understanding the Middle East , 2003  (June 23-27, 2003), a summer institute for K-12 teachers.  Expanded the coverage of 2002 institute to other grades and school districts.