Medieval universities, legal institutions, and the commercial revolution

Cantoni, Davide and Yuchtman, Noam (2014) Medieval universities, legal institutions, and the commercial revolution. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129 (2). pp. 823-887. ISSN 0033-5533

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Abstract

We present new data documenting medieval Europe’s Commercial Revolution using information on the establishment of markets in Germany. We use these data to test whether medieval universities played a causal role in expanding economic activity, examining the foundation of Germany’s first universities after 1386 following the papal schism. We find that the trend rate of market establishment breaks upward in 1386 and this break is greatest where the distance to a university shrank most. There is no differential pre-1386 trend associated with the reduction in distance to a university, and there is no break in trend in 1386 where university proximity did not change. These results are robust to estimating a variety of specifications that address concerns about the endogeneity of university location. Universities provided training in newly rediscovered Roman and canon law; students with legal training served in positions that reduced the uncertainty of trade in the Middle Ages. We argue that training in the law, and the consequent development of legal and administrative institutions, was an important channel linking universities and greater economic activity in medieval Germany.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/qje
Additional Information:	© 2014 Oxford University Press
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
JEL classification:	I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations > N13 - Europe: Pre-1913 N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income, and Wealth > N33 - Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income and Wealth: Europe: Pre-1913 O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General
Date Deposited:	04 Jan 2019 14:49
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2024 04:57
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/91508

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