Science Under Inquisition: The Allocation of Talent in Modern Europe

Organised by

• Department of Economics

Abstract:

We study the Roman Inquisition’s (1542) impact on science during the Scientific Revolution (1500s-1600s). Biographical data on notable people reveal declining likelihood of scientists being active in states under the Inquisition’s jurisdiction starting in the 1540s. We build and estimate a structural dynamic model of occupational and location choices to explore causal channels and historical counterfactuals. Our results indicate that the main drivers of Italy’s scientific decline since mid-1500 are the Inquisition’s deterrence effect, which induced scientists to migrate and discouraged talented individuals from engaging in science, and the inter-generational training effect stemming from the consequent loss of science masters. Overall, the Inquisition depressed scientific scholarship in Italy by about 23% during the run-up to the Industrial Revolution. The net spillover on the rest of Europe is also negative, as the positive migration spillover on other European states is more than offset by the reduced stock of Italian scientists.