The Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Award will be awarded annually by the Centre for Economics, Policy, and History (CEPH) to an economic historian who has made a major contribution to the discipline. The recipient will be invited to give the Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Lecture, where the medal will be formally presented.
Dr Alice Effie Murray (1877-1951) was an economic historian who studied the history of commercial and financial relations between England and Ireland. When she received her D.Sc. Econ. in 1903 for her doctorate on the topic, she became the first woman to receive a degree from the London School of Economics.[1] Her thesis was subsequently published by P. S. King in 1907.
The recipient is chosen by the directors of CEPH in consultation with its advisory board.
[1] Berg, M. (1992). ‘The first women economic historians.’ Economic History Review, 45, pp.308-29.
The 2024 recipient: Professor Ann Carlos
Biography
Ann M. Carlos received her BA in History and Economics and an MA in Economics from University College Dublin and her PhD in Economics, in 1980, from the University of Western Ontario. She is currently Professor Emerita, University of Colorado Boulder.
A persistent theme in Professor Carlos’ research had been a focus on groups often ignored. Early work explored managerial opportunism in early joint-stock chartered companies. Later, in a series of papers with Larry Neal, they examined the London stock market in which these companies operated: the social depth of share ownership by gender and occupation, diversification of portfolio holdings, and the role of brokers. In another series of papers, much joint with Frank D. Lewis, they explored the impact of a commercial fur trade on Canada’s First nations, focusing on the agency of North American Indigenous societies. They examine the extent and causes of resource depletion, indigenous demands on the structure of the trade, and Indigenous standards of living in the mid-eighteenth century. This work culminated in Commerce by a Frozen Sea, co-authored with Frank Lewis. Her current work explores the economic complexity, trade, and dynamism of Indigenous economies especially before 1492.
Professor Carlos is a Presidential Fellow of the Economic History Association, and a fellow of the Cliometrics Association. She has received teaching prizes, including the Jonathon Hughes Prize for excellence in teaching economic history from the Economic History Association. She has served as chair of the Department of Economics, and as Divisional Dean for Social Sciences at the University of Colorado and has been co-Editor of the Journal of Economic History.
Award
Professor Carlos’ scholarship has made major contributions to the field of economic history, in particular making space for groups previously largely excluded from research as economic actors. She has made two distinct major contributions to the field of economic history.
First, her seminal work on the impact of trade on indigenous peoples in the Americas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has blazed a trail for others to follow. The scholarship of Professor Carlos examined the deleterious effects of colonisation and trade on indigenous peoples in North America. She shows in her work that native peoples in the Americas built their own institutions and trade networks that first existed independently of European influence, and then adapted remarkably quickly and efficiently to the challenges posed by European pressure.
Second, her seminal work on the development of capital markets in London in the eighteenth century has helped scholars understand how these early markets functioned and developed. In particular, Professor Carlos has been a pioneer in focusing on the important activities of women in early financial markets. This focus on the role of women has pushed the discipline to consider the importance of gender in the study of economic history.
Professor Carlos gave the Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Lecture on Thursday 11th April 2024. See details here.
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