Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16092
Authors: Sascha O. Becker; Francisco J. Pino; Jordi Vidal-Robert
Abstract: The Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century challenged the monopoly of the Catholic Church. The printing press helped the new movement spread its ideas well beyond the cradle of the Reformation in Luther's city of Wittenberg. The Catholic Church reactedby issuing indexes of forbidden books which blacklisted not only Protestant authors but all authors whose ideas were considered to be in conflict with Catholic doctrine. We use newly digitized data on the universe of books censored by the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation, containing information on titles, authors, printers and printing locations. We classify censored books by topic (religion, sciences, social sciences and arts) and language and record when and where books were indexed. Our results show that Catholic censorship did reduce printing of forbidden authors, as intended, but also negatively impacted on the diffusion of knowledge, and city growth.
Keywords: censorship; counter-reformation; political economy; elite; human capital
JEL Codes: D7; N93; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Index Librorum Prohibitorum (ILP) (Y30) | reduction in printing of forbidden authors (Y30) |
| censorship (L96) | negative impact on diffusion of knowledge (F69) |
| censorship (L96) | hindered economic development of cities (R11) |
| Index Librorum Prohibitorum (ILP) (Y30) | reduction in competition and profitability in publishing sector (L11) |
| censorship (L96) | slower city growth (R11) |