On July 18, 2019, the Departments of Economics, Sociology and International Relations jointly organized a panel titled "Seeking an Alternative Economy". In the panel, Dr. Melik Ertuğrul, Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy, Dr. Suat Eren Özyiğit and Sociology Department Head Dr. Ömer Ersin Kahraman made presentations.
Dr. Melik Ertuğrul shared statistical information about the status of R&D expenditures of Turkish companies listed on BIST between 2009-2018 and underlined that there are important distances we need to cover in order to be a strong player in the future economic system. Starting from the story of Argentina's economic dissolution, Ertuğrul told about the Chinese economic model based on cheap labor, and compared it with the smart production model developed by Western countries in the struggle against China.
Dr. Suat Eren Özyiğit examined the case of North Korea as a different economic model. He evaluated North Korea's official ideology and government policies.
Dr. Ömer Ersin Kahraman compared the economic views of Adam Smith, David Graeber and Karl Polanyi. He explained theories about the emergence of money, its political and social background. He told that it is necessary to address the philosophical roots of economic development in order to understand today's free market system and its crises.
Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy evaluated the economic structure, functioning and institutions of the Ottoman Empire through concepts and made comparisons with today's capitalist economic system.
