Back	What Accounts for the Longevity of the Ottoman Empire? Prof. Şevket Pamuk, from the Department of Economics at Boğaziçi University, will be speaking at the Voyvoda Street Economic History Lectures, on the topic, "Institutional Change and the Longevity of the Ottoman Empire", on Wednesday, January 7, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Prof. Şevket Pamuk, who will illustrate his lecture with examples of Ottoman economic and financial institutions, explains the significance of institutional change as follows: "Over the past 20 years, economists and economic historians have begun to stress the relevance of institutions and institutional change in comprehending long term economic growth" he says. "The analysis of institutions and institutional change was primarily used to understand the success of the Industrial Revolution and the passage to capitalism in Western Europe but the institutional change approach can be used in other contexts as well. The fact that the Ottoman State was able to endure for 600 years is largely due to its flexibility and pragmatism and the importance given to institutional change - however selective - by Ottoman rulers."