Ellen Nye

Ellen Nye is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Purdue University. She is an economic historian specializing in the history of political economy, globalization, and early modern empires. Her research combines archival analysis across multiple languages and countries to challenge nationally bound narratives of financial and economic development.

• PhD in History from Yale University
• MPhil in Social and Economic History from the University of Cambridge
• AB in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Dartmouth College

Nye’s current book project, Empires of Obligation: Monetary Governance in a Globalizing World, investigates the interplay between interstate private credit and domestic public finance in early modern England and the Ottoman Empire. Her work has been recognized with prestigious awards including the Krooss Prize and Hans Gatzke Prize.

She has received funding from the Fulbright Commission, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and the American Research Institute in Turkey. During 2024-25, she held the History of Capitalism Fellowship at Harvard Business School, and will return as a fellow at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies during 2025-26.

Scientific Awards & Fellowships:

• Business History Conference’s Krooss Prize
• Yale’s Hans Gatzke Prize
• World History Association Dissertation Prize (Honorable Mention)
• History of Capitalism Fellowship at Harvard Business School

Nye’s research has been published in Journal for Early Modern History, Enterprise & Society, EH.net, and The Economist’s 1843 Magazine. She is not currently accepting graduate students.