TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Benos, Nikolaos
AU  - Conti, Maurizio
AU  - Papazoglou, Michail
AU  - Tsoumaris, Stamatis
        TI  - When Universities Matter: Academic Quality, Market Access, and Urban Growth in Pre-Industrial Europe
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18781
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18781
        AB  - We examine universities and urban growth in pre-industrial Europe using a panel of 2,247 cities from 1000 to 1800 and a staggered difference-in-differences design. Under the maintained identifying assumptions, university establishment is associated with approximately 20 percent higher city population, but estimates are highly heterogeneous. Population gains are strongest in earlier centuries and weaken as universities diffuse, while after 1500 they are concentrated among high-quality universities and commercially connected cities, especially near Atlantic and North Sea trade routes. University establishment is also followed by improved local market access. Overall, universities matter most where academic quality and commercial opportunities are greatest.
        KW  - universities
KW  - urban growth
KW  - upper-tail human capital
KW  - market access
KW  - pre-industrial Europe
        ER  -