The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800)

David de la Croix, Frédéric Docquier, Alice Fabre and Robert Stelter

No 14509, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We argue that market forces shaped the geographic distribution of upper-tail human capital across Europe during the Middle Ages, and contributed to bolstering universities at the dawn of the Humanistic and Scientific Revolutions. We build a unique database of thousands of scholars from university sources covering all of Europe, construct an index of their ability, and map the academic market in the medieval and early modern periods. We show that scholars tended to concentrate in the best universities (agglomeration), that better scholars were more sensitive to the quality of the university (positive sorting) and migrated over greater distances (positive selection). Agglomeration, selection and sorting patterns testify to a functioning academic market, made possible by political fragmentation and the use of a common language (Latin).

Keywords: Upper-tail human capital; Universities; Discrete choice model; Scholars; Publications; Agglomeration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 N33 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Academic Market and The Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000–1800) (2024)
Working Paper: The Academic Market and The Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000–1800) (2024)
Working Paper: The Academic Market and The Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000–1800) (2024)
Working Paper: The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) (2022)
Working Paper: The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) (2022)
Working Paper: The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) (2022)
Working Paper: The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) (2022)
Working Paper: The Academic Market And The Rise Of Universities In Medieval And Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) (2019)
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