Ralph Gomory Prize

This prize, made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, recognizes historical work on the effects of business enterprises on the economic conditions of the countries in which they operate. A prize of $5,000 is awarded annually for a book published in the two years prior to the year of the award. Book nominations are accepted from publishers. Four copies of each book must accompany a nomination and be submitted to the Prize Coordinator, Carol Ressler Lockman, Business History Conference, PO Box 3630, 298 Buck Road, Wilmington DE 19807-0630 USA. Email: clockman@hagley.org. The submission deadline is November 30. The Gomory Prize Committee shall consist of three members, one of whom will be the chair. Each member serves a three-year term, rotating onto the committee as junior member, then becoming chair, and then exiting after serving a final year as senior member. The chair of the Gomory Prize Committee shall preside over the entire process.

Ralph Gomory

2024 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Sharon Murphy
Providence College
Book cover -- Banking on Slavery
Banking on Slavery Financing Southern Expansion in the Antebellum United States
The University of Chicago Press, 2023

Honorable Mention:

Ghassan Moazzin, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870-1919. Cambridge University Press, 2022

2023 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Edmond Smith
The University of Manchester
 Merchants The Community That Shaped England's Trade and Empire, 1550-1650
Merchants. The Community That Shaped England's Trade and Empire, 1550-1650
Yale University Press, 2021

2022 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Andrew B. Liu
Villanova University
Book cover
Tea War: A History of Capitalism in China and India
Yale University Press, 2020

2021 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Suzanne Marchand
Louisiana State University
Cover of Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe
Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe
Princeton University Press, 2020

2020 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Heidi Tworek
University of British Columbia
Cover of News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900-  1945
News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications, 1900- 1945
Harvard University Press, 2019

2019 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Anne Fleming
(1980-2020)
City of Debtors
City of Debtors: A Century of Fringe Finance
Harvard University Press, 2018

Honorable Mention:

Herbert S. Klein, Columbia University and Francisco Vidal Luna, University of São Paulo, Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting, Department of Economics
Feeding the World: Brazil's Transformation into a Modern Agricultural Economy
Cambridge University Press, 2019

2018 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Edward Balleisen
Duke University
Fraud
Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff
Princeton University Press, 2017

2017 Ralph Gomory Prize Co-recipient


Johan Mathew
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick
Margins of the Market
Margins of the Market: Trafficking and Capitalism across the Arabian Sea
University of California Press, 2016

2017 Ralph Gomory Prize Co-recipient


Mark Wilson
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Destructive Creation
Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016

Honorable Mention:

William N. Goetzmann, Yale University School of Management
Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible (Princeton University Press, 2016)

2016 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Christy Chapin
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Ensuring Americas Health
Ensuring America's Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System
Cambridge University Press, 2015

2015 Ralph Gomory Prize Co-recipient


Emily Erikson
Yale University School of Management
Between Monopoly and Free Trade
Between Monopoly and Free Trade: The English East India Company, 1600-1757
Princeton University Press, 2014

2015 Ralph Gomory Prize Co-recipient


Kathryn Steen
Drexel University
American Synthetic Organic Chemicals Industry
The American Synthetic Organic Chemicals Industry: War and Politics, 1910-1930
University of North Carolina Press, 2014

2014 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Arwen Mohun
University of Delaware
Risk
Risk: Negotiating Safety in American Society
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012

2013 Ralph Gomory Prize Article Prize Recipient


Gerben Bakker
Lecturer in Economic History and Management, London School of Economics
"Trading Facts: Arrow's Fundamental Paradox and the Origins of Global News Networks," Peter Putnis, Chandrika Kaul, and Jurgen Wilke, eds., International Communication and Global News Networks: Historical Perspectives (2011) [View PDF]

2013 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Mark Freeman
University of Glasgow
Robin Pearson
University of Hull
James Taylor
Lancaster University
Shareholder Democracies? Corporate Governance in Britain and Ireland before 1850
Shareholder Democracies? Corporate Governance in Britain and Ireland before 1850
University of Chicago Press, 2012

Honorable Mention:

Jennifer L. Anderson, SUNY-Stony Brook
Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America (Harvard University Press, 2012)

2012 Ralph Gomory Prize Article Prize Recipient


Gregg Mitman
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Paul Erickson
Wesleyan University
"Latex and Blood: Science, Markets, and American Empire," Radical History Review (Spring 2010) [View PDF]

2012 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Richard White
Stanford University
Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America
Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America
W. W. Norton, 2011

Honorable Mention:

Jason Colby, University of Victoria
The Business of Empire: United Fruit, Race, and U.S. Expansion in Central America (Cornell University Press, 2011)

Philip J. Stern, Duke University
The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India (Oxford University Press, 2011)

2011 Ralph Gomory Prize Recipient


Richard John
Columbia University
Network Nation
Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications
Harvard University Press, 2010

Honorable Mention:

James R. Fichter, Lingnan University
So Great a Proffit: How the East Indies Trade Transformed Anglo-American Capitalism
Harvard University Press, 2010