Bosker, Maarten; Buringh, Eltjo; Zanden, Jan Luiten van - In: The Review of Economics and Statistics 95 (2013) 4, pp. 1418-1437
This paper empirically investigates why, between 800 and 1800, the urban center of gravity moved from the Islamic world to Europe. Using a large new city-specific data set covering Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, we unravel the role of geography and institutions in determining...