Periodic Reporting for period 3 - UTHC (Did elite human capital trigger the rise of the West? Insights from a new database of European scholars)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-06-30
The aim is to explore the complementarity of elite knowledge and upper-tail human capital (UTHC) in triggering the rise of the West. We build a database of a large sample of academic scholars in Europe over the period 1000CE-1800CE. Sources are primary (published cartularia and matricula), secondary (books on the history of universities & academies), and tertiary (biographical dictionaries). Hence, the issue being addressed is to identify key aspects of pre-modern European academia which were complementary with growth.
To measure the quality of scholars, these data are matched with the existing catalogues of publications. we will build a geographical grid of the density, composition, and quality of the UTHC across time, and correlate the UTHC at the cell level with the adoption of new techniques and better institutions, and the development of literacy, numeracy, and urbanization.
The individual character of the data will allow basing causal identification on exogenous variations in the European network of both individuals and universities. The migration pattern of scholars will be used to identify sorting and agglomeration forces, witnessing to the functioning of an academic market in the medieval and early modern
periods. Families of scholars will be identified to assess the importance of nepotism vs human capital transmission.
Third, we will develop a new theory of how ideas spread through the academic network. A second new theoretical model will be devoted to revealing the dynamic interactions between conservative and modern forces within universities and learned societies; the key trade-off here is between
vested interests and new paradigms, letting scholarly elites develop a culture of growth.
Overall, I intend to rethink economic growth by unravelling the rich interactions between scholars & literati and economic development.
To measure the quality of scholars, these data are matched with the existing catalogues of publications. we will build a geographical grid of the density, composition, and quality of the UTHC across time, and correlate the UTHC at the cell level with the adoption of new techniques and better institutions, and the development of literacy, numeracy, and urbanization.
The individual character of the data will allow basing causal identification on exogenous variations in the European network of both individuals and universities. The migration pattern of scholars will be used to identify sorting and agglomeration forces, witnessing to the functioning of an academic market in the medieval and early modern
periods. Families of scholars will be identified to assess the importance of nepotism vs human capital transmission.
Third, we will develop a new theory of how ideas spread through the academic network. A second new theoretical model will be devoted to revealing the dynamic interactions between conservative and modern forces within universities and learned societies; the key trade-off here is between
vested interests and new paradigms, letting scholarly elites develop a culture of growth.
Overall, I intend to rethink economic growth by unravelling the rich interactions between scholars & literati and economic development.
A. Work Performed
Data Collection and Database Construction
We constructed an original dataset named RETE (Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae), covering over 83,000 academic scholars active between 1000 and 1800. The scholars were identified from 669 published historical sources, including membership lists from more than 350 European universities and academies. Unlike previous studies focusing on a handful of famous scientists, we include both prominent and lesser-known individuals based on institutional affiliations, not retrospective fame.
Each scholar’s career has been traced geographically and temporally, providing detailed data on institutional affiliations, fields of expertise, and in many cases, their publications as catalogued in modern library holdings.
Historical Reconstruction of Institutions
We systematically compared European universities and academies with similar institutions across the world (e.g. madrasas, Confucian academies, Nalanda monastery). This comparative analysis highlighted that only in Europe did universities develop as legally autonomous corporate entities, which we argue was a crucial enabler of academic freedom, mobility, and intellectual persistence.
Development of Human Capital Measures
A core innovation of the project is a methodology to quantify human capital historically. In the absence of earnings data, we constructed a human capital index based primarily on scholarly output, using publication presence in library databases (VIAF). Though imperfect, this approach allows us to track and compare the evolution of academic quality over time and space.
Conceptual and Theoretical Advances
Drawing on economic theory, we have linked academic meritocracy, mobility, and institutional autonomy with broader developmental outcomes. For instance, we investigate how factors like censorship, religious conflict, and nepotism affected knowledge production. We also explore how universities contributed to the emergence of a pan-European academic market, with Latin as a lingua franca and credentials that allowed scholars to teach across institutions (licentia ubique docendi).
B. Main Results Achieved
1. Europe’s unique institutional design—specifically, the legal autonomy of universities and academies—played a foundational role in creating resilient, self-governing knowledge institutions. These characteristics contrast with institutions elsewhere, which lacked legal personhood and thus remained more fragile or state-dependent.
2. Merit-based recruitment and scholarly mobility were essential features of the European academic system. We observe that highly productive scholars were also highly mobile, contributing to knowledge diffusion and cross-pollination of ideas across regions.
3. Despite occasional ideological interference, notably during religious conflicts and censorship episodes (e.g. the Index of Prohibited Books), the academic system overall facilitated the emergence and diffusion of scientific knowledge.
4. Our data show that upper-tail human capital—i.e. the presence of highly productive individuals in science and medicine—was strongly correlated with urban growth and development, suggesting that premodern academia had tangible economic effects.
5. Finally, preliminary network analyses of academic affiliations confirm that the Protestant Reformation created a significant structural break in European academic networks, reducing mobility between Protestant and Catholic institutions. Nonetheless, science continued to develop robustly in both domains, albeit via different institutional pathways.
Data Collection and Database Construction
We constructed an original dataset named RETE (Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae), covering over 83,000 academic scholars active between 1000 and 1800. The scholars were identified from 669 published historical sources, including membership lists from more than 350 European universities and academies. Unlike previous studies focusing on a handful of famous scientists, we include both prominent and lesser-known individuals based on institutional affiliations, not retrospective fame.
Each scholar’s career has been traced geographically and temporally, providing detailed data on institutional affiliations, fields of expertise, and in many cases, their publications as catalogued in modern library holdings.
Historical Reconstruction of Institutions
We systematically compared European universities and academies with similar institutions across the world (e.g. madrasas, Confucian academies, Nalanda monastery). This comparative analysis highlighted that only in Europe did universities develop as legally autonomous corporate entities, which we argue was a crucial enabler of academic freedom, mobility, and intellectual persistence.
Development of Human Capital Measures
A core innovation of the project is a methodology to quantify human capital historically. In the absence of earnings data, we constructed a human capital index based primarily on scholarly output, using publication presence in library databases (VIAF). Though imperfect, this approach allows us to track and compare the evolution of academic quality over time and space.
Conceptual and Theoretical Advances
Drawing on economic theory, we have linked academic meritocracy, mobility, and institutional autonomy with broader developmental outcomes. For instance, we investigate how factors like censorship, religious conflict, and nepotism affected knowledge production. We also explore how universities contributed to the emergence of a pan-European academic market, with Latin as a lingua franca and credentials that allowed scholars to teach across institutions (licentia ubique docendi).
B. Main Results Achieved
1. Europe’s unique institutional design—specifically, the legal autonomy of universities and academies—played a foundational role in creating resilient, self-governing knowledge institutions. These characteristics contrast with institutions elsewhere, which lacked legal personhood and thus remained more fragile or state-dependent.
2. Merit-based recruitment and scholarly mobility were essential features of the European academic system. We observe that highly productive scholars were also highly mobile, contributing to knowledge diffusion and cross-pollination of ideas across regions.
3. Despite occasional ideological interference, notably during religious conflicts and censorship episodes (e.g. the Index of Prohibited Books), the academic system overall facilitated the emergence and diffusion of scientific knowledge.
4. Our data show that upper-tail human capital—i.e. the presence of highly productive individuals in science and medicine—was strongly correlated with urban growth and development, suggesting that premodern academia had tangible economic effects.
5. Finally, preliminary network analyses of academic affiliations confirm that the Protestant Reformation created a significant structural break in European academic networks, reducing mobility between Protestant and Catholic institutions. Nonetheless, science continued to develop robustly in both domains, albeit via different institutional pathways.
To analyze a effect of universities or academies on development, we strike a balance between structural modelling, identification, and purely descriptive work. While establishing a definitive causal link across such a vast expanse of time and geographical area remains challenging, our approach combining models with data lends support to the hypothesis that universities played a crucial role in generating knowledge during the emergence of European dominance. This, in turn, potentially paved the way for the Enlightenment, humanistic movements, and scientific revolutions, as well as, to a lesser extent, during the subsequent European primacy. Our results shed light on the importance of medieval roots in fostering scientific output, confronting qualitative studies on the subject with unique data sources and sound estimates.