The Economics of Culture and the Culture of Economics: On the Methodological Foundations of the Ulgener-Sayar Research Program

The interactions between culture, individual economic behavior, and the economic development of societies, and the processes of economic ideas spreading among countries, have long been neglected by mainstream economics. In recent years, such considerations have started to gain importance in the economics literature. This study will first address this emerging body of literature and its relation to the fundamental subject matter of economics: Why do some countries succeed in economic development while others fail? Second, it will review the works of Professor Ahmet Guner Sayar to understand how the above issues are reflected in the evolution of Ottoman-Turkish society. Examining some of the theses in Professor Sayar's works and their origins reveals the Ulgener-Sayar Approach to the study of Turkish economic and cultural history and its methodological foundations.