The European Economic Association (EEA) awards the Hicks-Tinbergen Medal every two years to recognize outstanding articles published in its journal, highlighting both theoretical and empirical contributions to economics. The 2026 award goes to the paper “The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe” by David de la Croix, Frédéric Docquier, Alice Fabre, and Robert Stelter (Research Fellow of the Faculty of Business and Economics). The study is part of a major European Research Council project that created a comprehensive database of European scholars, the Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae. Using this dataset, the authors uncover new insights into the European academic system between 1000 and 1800. They show that the academic market was highly integrated and merit-based, supported by Latin as a common language and shaped by political fragmentation and institutional competition. This environment encouraged scholar mobility and knowledge exchange, ultimately contributing to the rise of universities and long-term economic growth leading up to the Industrial Revolution.

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Hicks-Tinbergen Award