In this hybrid research seminar on Thursday 10 October 2024 at 12:00 - 13:00 CEST, Martina Iori (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) will present the findings from her co-authored paper 'A Numerical Revolution: The Diffusion of Practical Mathematics and the Growth of Pre-modern European Economies'.
Abstract from the paper:
The accumulation of knowledge and its application to a variety of human needs are discontinuous processes that can lead to economic growth through innovation and change. In this paper, we focus on the diffusion of new mathematical knowledge from the 13th to the end of the 16th century in Europe. Using an original dataset of over 1000 manuals of practical arithmetic, we produce new descriptive and quasi-experimental evidence on the economic importance of the European transition from Roman to Hindu-Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). We show that, by laying the foundations for the commercial developments observed from the 13th century onwards, this numerical revolution had positive and significant effects on the growth of pre-modern European economies.
The Zoom link to join the seminar online can be found here. This event is open to the public; all who are interested in this topic are very welcome to join the seminar, and there is also the opportunity to ask our speaker questions at the end of her presentation.
For any queries related to our UNU-MERIT Seminar Series, please contact Sneha Marydas and Cecilia Seri by sending an email to seminars@merit.unu.edu.
