Censorship, industry structure, and creativity: evidence from the Catholic Inquisition in Renaissance Venice

Abstract

We examine the effects of the book censorship implemented by the Catholic Inquisition on printing outcomes in Renaissance Venice. We collect detailed information on indexes of prohibited books and publication activities by the main printers active in Venice during the 1500s. We construct treatment and comparison groups based on the specialization of each printer in transgressive publications before the Inquisition. We show that censorship had a significant impact on publication levels and industry structure, with the firms targeted by the Inquisition losing market shares to those less affected by censorship. These effects appear long lasting and associated to changes in survival and entry. We also show that censorship led to a change in the direction of publishing. These findings support the idea that censorship may have dynamic effects on the structure, evolution, and creativity of industries that go beyond the removal of certain types of creative work from the market (JEL O33, N33, L51).