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Conversable Economist: What Did Gutenberg's Printing Press Actually Change?
22 March 2019
In a similar spirit, I of course know that the introduction of a printing press with moveable type by to Europe in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg is often called one of the most important inventions in world history. However, I'm grateful that Jeremiah Dittmar and Skipper Seabold have been checking it out. They have written "Gutenberg's moving type propelled Europe towards the scientific revolution," for the LSE Business Review (March 19, 2019). It's a nice accessible version of the main findings from their research paper, "New Media and Competition: Printing and Europe's Transformation after Gutenberg" (Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No 1600 January 2019).