Question

What were the most important economic and social effects of the invention of the printing press? Was the printing press good or bad in the long-run for Europe?

Answer 1

Invention of Printing press had both economic and social effect.

Economic impact:

1) Led to increased trade activity

2) Led to more affordable books. Literacy rate increased. More economic activity gained momentum. More book shops opened. Scale of sales operation increased.

3) Led to high demand for newspaper

4) Printing itself became a large industry, propelling owners to create more jobs , make & sell more books

5) Helped cities considered as seedbeds for economic ideas and social groups to drove the emergence of modern growth.

6) One estimate suggest early adoption of the printing press was associated with a population growth advantage of 21 percentage points 1500-1600, when mean city growth was 30 percentage points.

7) Cities that adopted print media benefitted from positive spillovers in human capital accumulation and technological change, which in turn exerted an upward pressure on the returns to labour, made cities culturally dynamic, and attracted migrants.

8) Print media played a key role in the development of skills that were valuable to merchants and led to increased commerce -an important source of urban wealth and income than tradable industrial production.

Social Effect:

1) Led to progress and development of civilization

2) Bible started getting produced on large scale and spread of christainity gained momentum

3) Revolutionary ideas started taking shapes as they got spread in form of printed books

4) During the Reformation, Printing helped spread Protestant religion ideas such as Lutheranism.

5) Translation of religious books from Latin to local language, including the Bible , became a possibility, allowing people to draw their own conclusions about the Bible and other books instead of the church just leading them along.

6) Led to quicker diffusion the world is endowed with a treasure house of wisdom and knowledge

7) Printing powered the scientific temper

Yes, printing press was good in the long-run for Europe. It led to industrial revolution, spread of new ideas , technology and innovations. It eventually led to renaissance. In short, it helped pull Europe out of the Dark Ages and accelerate human progress. With printing came the era of  mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of society. Literacy rate shooted up. Middle class emerged in the society that focussed on trade and commerce other than industrial production. It helped people to threaten the power of political and religious authorities.People in Europe became culturally aware and rose eventually to nationalist forces. Printing brought in many new inventions and capitalism gained momentum.