Periodic Reporting for period 2 - UTHC (Did elite human capital trigger the rise of the West? Insights from a new database of European scholars)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-07-01 al 2023-12-31
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.
Between the establishment of the first higher education institutions and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, around 200 universities were founded in Europe. In addition to these universities, there are the academies of sciences, arts, and letters, which originated in Italy during the Renaissance and flourished in Europe, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. Thousands of academies were established, but approximately 200 achieved a level of prominence that extended far beyond the confines of their original cities. The individuals who were active in these 400 institutions constituted a significant portion of Europe's intellectual capital during these eight centuries (what we will call upper tail human capital).
As of today (March 14, 2024), we have consulted 604 secondary sources, which have allowed us to manually collect information on 68,000 individuals engaging in 82,884 activities within the 379 institutions that we have selected. Results can be found in the various issues of Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae, on the web at https://shiny lidam.sipr.ucl.ac.be/scholars/ and in de la Croix and Vitale (2022).
One specificity of our approach, in addition to its long period and broad geographical coverage, is to attempt to assess the quality of these professors and academics. We build an index based on several determinants of an academic's quality. We cannot measure the quality of their teaching or the services they provide to the university or society, but their research activity can be documented through the books they have published. Specifically, we can rely on today's library holdings to catalogue the works of each individual and derive a measure of human capital. Of course, this is a noisy measure, but it allows for comparisons of individuals over time and across regions of Europe. It also examines these individuals through a contemporary lens (today's libraries), which could introduce bias compared to how professors were viewed in their own time. Nevertheless, it is not surprising to find figures such as Martin Luther, a professor at the University of Wittenberg, François Arouet de Voltaire, a member of numerous academies, and Thomas Aquinas, a professor at the University of Paris, among the top 10 of all time. The most renowned authors of the Scientific Revolution also rank highly, such as Galileo and Newton.
Measuring human capital enables us to address questions that would otherwise be difficult to explore. For example, are the most prolific professors more mobile than those who will never write anything in their lifetime? This question can be analyzed by combining our data with an economic model of location choice. The answer is affirmative. Results can be found in two papers of the team: de la Croix, Docquier, Fabre, Stelter (2021), and Zanardello (2022).
Another interesting question: When we observe a father and son both working in the same institution, is it nepotism or the transmission of human capital from father to son? We can assess the extent of nepotism by comparing the distribution of human capital among all sons with that of all fathers, essentially determining if, on average, sons are inferior to their fathers. In this case, we find that instances of nepotism (i.e. the hiring of a son as a professor without meeting the required qualifications) account for twenty percent of all faculty appointments for sons of professors. Results can be found in de la Croix and Goni (2021).
Finally, a third question: When the Catholic Church began compiling a list of banned books (the Index Librorum Prohibitorum), were the best researchers disproportionately affected? Results can be found in Blasutto and de la Croix (2021).
Another tool that we can utilize to study the pre-modern academic world is network theory. This theory is widely used in the social and human sciences. In its simplest form, a network consists of nodes connected by links. Let's construct a network of universities as our starting point. The nodes represent the universities, and we'll assume that two universities are connected if a professor has held a position in both of them. The underlying hypothesis is that when a professor moves from one university to teach at another, a link is created between these two places. This facilitates the flow of information, the movement of students between the universities, and possibly the transfer of books as well. In the network of European universities for the period 1686-1733, we can clearly observe the presence of two distinct communities, namely Catholics and Protestants. The Protestant Reformation effectively divided the academic world, reducing mobility between these two realms. Results can be found in de la Croix and Morault (2021).
As of today (March 14, 2024), we have consulted 604 secondary sources, which have allowed us to manually collect information on 68,000 individuals engaging in 82,884 activities within the 379 institutions that we have selected. Results can be found in the various issues of Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae, on the web at https://shiny lidam.sipr.ucl.ac.be/scholars/ and in de la Croix and Vitale (2022).
One specificity of our approach, in addition to its long period and broad geographical coverage, is to attempt to assess the quality of these professors and academics. We build an index based on several determinants of an academic's quality. We cannot measure the quality of their teaching or the services they provide to the university or society, but their research activity can be documented through the books they have published. Specifically, we can rely on today's library holdings to catalogue the works of each individual and derive a measure of human capital. Of course, this is a noisy measure, but it allows for comparisons of individuals over time and across regions of Europe. It also examines these individuals through a contemporary lens (today's libraries), which could introduce bias compared to how professors were viewed in their own time. Nevertheless, it is not surprising to find figures such as Martin Luther, a professor at the University of Wittenberg, François Arouet de Voltaire, a member of numerous academies, and Thomas Aquinas, a professor at the University of Paris, among the top 10 of all time. The most renowned authors of the Scientific Revolution also rank highly, such as Galileo and Newton.
Measuring human capital enables us to address questions that would otherwise be difficult to explore. For example, are the most prolific professors more mobile than those who will never write anything in their lifetime? This question can be analyzed by combining our data with an economic model of location choice. The answer is affirmative. Results can be found in two papers of the team: de la Croix, Docquier, Fabre, Stelter (2021), and Zanardello (2022).
Another interesting question: When we observe a father and son both working in the same institution, is it nepotism or the transmission of human capital from father to son? We can assess the extent of nepotism by comparing the distribution of human capital among all sons with that of all fathers, essentially determining if, on average, sons are inferior to their fathers. In this case, we find that instances of nepotism (i.e. the hiring of a son as a professor without meeting the required qualifications) account for twenty percent of all faculty appointments for sons of professors. Results can be found in de la Croix and Goni (2021).
Finally, a third question: When the Catholic Church began compiling a list of banned books (the Index Librorum Prohibitorum), were the best researchers disproportionately affected? Results can be found in Blasutto and de la Croix (2021).
Another tool that we can utilize to study the pre-modern academic world is network theory. This theory is widely used in the social and human sciences. In its simplest form, a network consists of nodes connected by links. Let's construct a network of universities as our starting point. The nodes represent the universities, and we'll assume that two universities are connected if a professor has held a position in both of them. The underlying hypothesis is that when a professor moves from one university to teach at another, a link is created between these two places. This facilitates the flow of information, the movement of students between the universities, and possibly the transfer of books as well. In the network of European universities for the period 1686-1733, we can clearly observe the presence of two distinct communities, namely Catholics and Protestants. The Protestant Reformation effectively divided the academic world, reducing mobility between these two realms. Results can be found in de la Croix and Morault (2021).
To analyze an 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 lend 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.