Chapman University Chapman University Digital Commons ESI Working Papers Economic Science Institute 3-2019 A Time to Print, a Time to Reform Lars Boerner Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Jared Rubin Chapman University,
[email protected] Battista Severgnini Copenhagen Business School Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers Part of the Econometrics Commons, Economic Theory Commons, and the Other Economics Commons Recommended Citation Boerner, L., Rubin, J., & Severgnini, B. (2019). A time to print, a time to reform. ESI Working Paper 19-07. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/264/ This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Economic Science Institute at Chapman University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in ESI Working Papers by an authorized administrator of Chapman University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. A Time to Print, a Time to Reform Comments Working Paper 19-07 This article is available at Chapman University Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/ esi_working_papers/264 A Time to Print, a Time to Reform∗ Lars Boerner† Jared Rubin‡ Battista Severgnini§ Abstract The public mechanical clock and movable type printing press were arguably the most important and complex technologies of the late medieval period. We posit that towns with clocks became upper-tail human capital hubs|clocks required extensive technical know-how and fine mechanical skill. This meant that clock towns were in position to adopt the printing press soon after its invention in 1450, as presses required a simi- lar set of mechanical and technical skills to operate and repair.