Medieval Cathedral Construction and Economic Development

Talk by Èric Roca Fernández (CERDI, Université de Clermont-Auvergne) as part of the Research Seminar Series of the IOS Economics Department.

This paper proposes that cathedral construction served as mechanism for diffusing tacit knowledge in medieval Europe. When knowledge is embodied in skilled individuals, its diffusion requires their physical movement. In setting with expensive travel and scarce information, such movement was rare. The Church's fiscal apparatus concentrated dispersed resources into single sites over decades, generating sustained demand for specialist labor that justified costly relocation. Using panel of European cities from 700 to 1500, we instrument cathedral construction with fires and lightning strikes. We find that construction raised subsequent urban population. Mechanism evidence points to targeted diffusion: construction attracted engineers and artists, while producing no response among other occupations. Construction also reduced distance to nearest crane, complex capital good with specialized mechanical knowledge, indicating local presence of engineering capacity applicable beyond cathedral itself.