The DOI matches its Crossref record; 107 of the 111 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Medieval Universities, Legal Institutions, and the Commercial Revolution *
Open accessAbstract
We present new data documenting medieval Europe’s Commercial Revolution using information on the establishment of markets in Germany. We use these data to test whether medieval universities played a causal role in expanding economic activity, examining the foundation of Germany’s first universities after 1386 following the papal schism. We find that the trend rate of market establishment breaks upward in 1386 and this break is greatest where the distance to a university shrank most. There is no differential pre-1386 trend associated with the reduction in distance to a university, and there is no break in trend in 1386 where university proximity did not change. These results are robust to estimating a variety of specifications that address concerns about the endogeneity of university location. Universities provided training in newly rediscovered Roman and canon law; students with legal training served in positions that reduced the uncertainty of trade in the Middle Ages. We argue that training in the law, and the consequent development of legal and administrative institutions, was an important channel linking universities and greater economic activity in medieval Germany.
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“Here, the university's epistemic function was primarily curatorial and interpretive, sustained through tightly bound communities of scholars, while also reinforcing ecclesiastical authority and restricting access to knowledge production”
From Purpose before policy: academic integrity, generative AI, and rhetorical stance (2026) · cites this paper as Cantoni & Yuchtman, 2014
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Cites
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Metadata
- Authors
- Cantoni, D., & Yuchtman, N.
- Affiliations
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-03-12
- Volume
- 129
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 823-887
- ISSN
- 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-4650
- OpenAlex
- W2124465692
- Cited by
- 221
- References
- 111
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 11
- FWCI
- 38.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics (publishedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Theses Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (acceptedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Econstor (Econstor) (submittedVersion)
- Open access LMU (Ludwid Maxmilian's Universitat Munchen) (submittedVersion)
- Universitätsbibliothek der LMU
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Historical Economic and Social Studies
- Social Sciences › Development › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Historical Economic and Legal Thought
- Keywords
- medieval universities, commercial revolution, market creation, university proximity, legal institutions, canon law, Roman law, legal education, trade uncertainty, economic growth, papal schism, medieval Germany
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