The printing press was the great innovation in early modern information technology, but economists have found no macroeconomic evidence of its impact. This paper exploits city-level data. Between 1500 and 1600, European cities where printing presses were established in the 1400s grew 60 percent faster than otherwise similar cities. Cities that adopted printing in the 1400s had no prior advantage and the association between adoption and subsequent growth was not due to printers choosing auspicious locations. These findings are supported by regressions that exploit distance from Mainz, Germany – the birth place of printing – as an instrument for adoption.