International Book Award For Economics Professor
2 September 2009
SOAS Professor of Economics Anne Booth has been presented with the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) book prize at its recent gathering in Korea.
Professor Booth, who specialises in the economics of Asia, was commended for her latest book entitled ‘Colonial Legacies: Economic and Social Development in East and Southeast Asia’.
The competition selects the best books and PhDs in the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences with cash prizes of 2,500 Euro being awarded to the winners.
Professor Booth commented: “This is a wonderful honour and I am delighted that it brings recognition to my own work and also to the supportive SOAS research environment.”
Judges wrote that Professor Booth’s work is “an extremely valuable comparative study analysing the contrasting economic development of former American or European colonies with those of Japan”. It was commended for being “original and refreshing” full of important detail brought together from a wide range of sources and ideal for both students and specialists with an interest in this field. It was also described as “cutting edge” and as a “model study that succeeds in enlivening its subject, which will become a standard text in the field.”
ICAS was formed in 1997 to bring together academics and scholars with an interest in Asia to discuss the issues facing the region. Over the last ten years, it has grown into the largest biennial Asia studies event outside the US covering all subjects relating to Asia studies.
This latest award for SOAS tops off what has been a very successful summer for global academic prizes for staff in the departments of Anthropology and Sociology; Law; Economics; and Languages and Cultures of Africa.
For more about Professor Booth, visit http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff30672.php
