When Universities Matter: Academic Quality, Market Access, and Urban Growth in Pre-Industrial Europe

Nikolaos Benos (), Maurizio Conti, Michail Papazoglou and Stamatis Tsoumaris
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Nikolaos Benos: Department of Economics, University of Ioannina
Stamatis Tsoumaris: Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi)

No 18781, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: We examine universities and urban growth in pre-industrial Europe using a panel of 2,247 cities from 1000 to 1800 and a staggered difference-in-differences design. Under the maintained identifying assumptions, university establishment is associated with approximately 20 percent higher city population, but estimates are highly heterogeneous. Population gains are strongest in earlier centuries and weaken as universities diffuse, while after 1500 they are concentrated among high-quality universities and commercially connected cities, especially near Atlantic and North Sea trade routes. University establishment is also followed by improved local market access. Overall, universities matter most where academic quality and commercial opportunities are greatest.

Keywords: universities; urban growth; upper-tail human capital; market access; pre-industrial Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 N33 O15 O18 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07
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