The Counter-Reformation, Science, and Long-Term Growth : A Black Legend?

To identify effects of science on growth in the long-term, we need a shock to science which is sufficiently persistent. Was the Counter-Reformation—the Catholic reaction to Protestantism—such a shock? Did it harm science, unintentionally but enduringly, and thereby depress economic growth, as some historians have claimed? This paper presents copious evidence in favor of this contested narrative. It shows that science was depressed in all of Europe during the religious conflicts, but especially so in Catholics cities, precisely where and when the Counter-Reformation was more intense. It then shows how the shock endured via the reactivation of Counter-Reformation-rooted policies and legacies centuries later. Finally, it exploits this persistence to estimate long-term growth effects and confirms them using alternative variance unrelated to the Counter-Reformation