IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/sdueko/2019_011.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Origins of Creativity: The Case of the Arts in the United States since 1850

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This research illuminates the historical development of creative activity in the United States. Census data is used to identify creative occupations (i.e., artists, musicians, authors, actors) and data on prominent creatives, as listed in a comprehensive biographical compendium. The analysis first sheds light on the socio-economic background of creative people and how it has changed since 1850. The results indicate that the proportion of female creatives is relatively high, time constraints can be a hindrance for taking up a creative occupation, racial inequality is present and tends to change only slowly, and access to financial resources within a family facilitates the uptake of an artistic occupation. Second, the study systematically documents and quantifies the geography of creative clusters in the United States and explains how these have evolved over time and across creative domains. Third, it investigates the importance of outstanding talent in a discipline for the local growth of an artistic cluster.

Suggested Citation

  • Borowiecki, Karol Jan, 2019. "The Origins of Creativity: The Case of the Arts in the United States since 1850," Discussion Papers of Business and Economics 11/2019, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Business and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2019_011
    Note: A previous version was published as No. 3/2019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sdu.dk/-/media/files/om_sdu/institutter/ivoe/disc_papers/disc_2019/dpbe11_2019.pdf?la=da&hash=FEFD829FC0C9975F37424AF0655006DD00032619
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Etro, Federico & Pagani, Laura, 2012. "The Market for Paintings in Italy During the Seventeenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 423-447, May.
    2. Graddy, Kathryn, 2013. "Taste Endures! The Rankings of Roger de Piles (†1709) and Three Centuries of Art Prices," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 766-791, September.
    3. Olivier Gergaud & Morgane Laouénan & Etienne Wasmer, 2016. "A Brief History of Human Time: Exploring a database of 'notable people'," Sciences Po publications 2016-03, Sciences Po.
    4. Victoria Ateca-Amestoy, 2008. "Determining heterogeneous behavior for theater attendance," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 32(2), pages 127-151, June.
    5. Claudia Goldin, 2006. "The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Employment, Education, and Family," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 1-21, May.
    6. V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1, December.
    7. Goldin, Claudia, 2006. "The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family," Scholarly Articles 2943933, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    8. Victor Ginsburgh & David Throsby, 2006. "Handbook of the economics of art and culture," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/1673, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. repec:kap:jculte:v:42:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10824-017-9310-4 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Thierry Burger-Helmchen, 2013. "The Economics of Creativity : ideas, firms and markets," Post-Print hal-02189772, HAL.
    11. Hellmanzik, Christiane, 2010. "Location matters: Estimating cluster premiums for prominent modern artists," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 199-218, February.
    12. David W. Galenson, 2007. "Introduction to Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity," Introductory Chapters, in: Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity, Princeton University Press.
    13. Oliver Falck & Michael Fritsch & Stephan Heblich & Anne Otto, 2018. "Music in the air: estimating the social return to cultural amenities," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(3), pages 365-391, August.
    14. Heilbrun,James & Gray,Charles M., 2001. "The Economics of Art and Culture," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521637121.
    15. Borowiecki, Karol Jan, 2013. "Geographic clustering and productivity: An instrumental variable approach for classical composers," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 94-110.
    16. repec:eee:juecon:v:112:y:2019:i:c:p:16-32 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Ruth Towse, 2010. "Creativity, Copyright and the Creative Industries Paradigm," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 461-478, August.
    18. Fairlie, Robert, 2015. "The Kauffman Index: Startup Activity | National Trends," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt5cb198rq, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creativity; artists; geographic clustering; agglomeration economies; urban history;

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2019_011. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Lene Holbæk). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/okioudk.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.