New media and competition: printing and Europe's transformation after Gutenberg

Jeremiah Dittmar and Skipper Seabold

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: We study the role of book content in economic, religious, and institutional development after the introduction of printing, and the role of competition in determining the amount and content of local printing. We focus on (1) business education content and (2) religious ideas during the Protestant Reformation. We construct data on printing output and competition in European cities 1454-1600.We document positive relationships between business education content and city growth, and Protestant content and institutional change. We find competition predicts content. We confirm the relationships between competition, content, and outcomes using printer deaths as a source of exogenous variation.

Keywords: competition; firms; media; technology; institutions; religion; politics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L1 L2 N0 N8 O3 O4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-01-31
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1600

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