Printing Cities

During the period of time between 1500 and 1600, European cities that had printing presses established during previous years saw growth rates that were 60% faster than that of other similar cities not possessing printing presses. Thanks to the diffusion of printing that followed the industrial revolution, several positive externalities were seen including the promotion of the accumulation of human capital as well as the furthering of the evolution of business practices. This was due in part to the knowledge and skills that the printing press fostered which would later be valuable in commerce; it helped to develop the subject of numeracy, emerge business education and adopt innovations in bookkeeping and technology, all of which served to be effective in conducting commercial growth within cities. Merchants, with the newfound ability to calculator interest rates, profit shares and exchange rates due to the skills they developed from the invention of print media, were consequently able to engage in large-scale and long-distance trade that brought back high financial return. Furthermore, the arrival of “commercial arithmetics” in the 1840s from the European presses were able to transmit commercial qualitative and quantitative skills that would prepare business students, teaching subjects concerning currency conversions, interest payments and profit shares in the first form of printed mathematics textbooks to ever exist. Beyond literacy, the invention of print media was successful in fostering the development of business practices that would help employ long distance trade, having a definitive impact on the economy in which printing presses were established.

In addition to the economic benefits that cities with printing presses enjoyed, these printing cities were also known to be attractive sociocultural locations, as they attracted booksellers, universities and students, as well as the fostering of backward linkages such as paper mills, illuminators and translators. Furthermore, the commercial environment of printing workshops brought together for the first time scholars, merchants, craftsmen and mechanics, which eroded the “town and gown” divide which previously existed in European cities. Intellectuals flocked to bookshops and printing houses as meeting places and temporary residences, marking these locations as social centers of some type. This facilitation of social development within printing cities played a significant role of their growth that also translated into their economies as well.