2018 Recipient

The Ed A Hewett Book Prize, established in 1994 and sponsored by the University of Michigan Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, is awarded annually for an outstanding monograph on the political economy of Russia, Eurasia and/or Eastern Europe, published in the previous year.

Co-Winner: Rachel A. Epstein
Title: Banking on Markets: The Transformation of Bank-State Ties in Europe and Beyond (Oxford University Press)

Rachel Epstein’s Banking on Markets sheds new light on a central question in much of the post-communist region: how and why so many post-communist countries became deeply dependent upon foreign capital, and whether this dependence created vulnerabilities for the region’s financial sectors and economies. Challenging the dominant perspective that the presence of foreign capital necessarily leaves emerging economies vulnerable to instability and volatility during financial crises, Epstein finds that foreign ownership was a stabilizing factor for many post-communist countries during the European sovereign debt and financial crises. The extensive research and novel findings of Banking on Markets will shape our future understanding of European and post-Communist banking and finance for years to come and this book will have an enduring impact on theories of globalization and international political economy.

Co-Winner: Sarah Wilson Sokhey

Honorable Mention: Regine A. Spector