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The Creativity Premium: Exploring the Link Between Childhood Creativity and Life Outcomes

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  • David Gill
  • Victoria Prowse

Abstract

Success in life increasingly depends on key skills that allow people to thrive in education, the labor market, and their interactions with others. In this paper, we emphasize creativity as a key skill that is essential to open-ended problem solving and resistant to automation. We use rich longitudinal data to study the relationship between people's creativity measured in childhood and their individual attributes and life outcomes. We find that childhood creativity predicts labor market and educational success: more creative individuals earn more during the course of their careers, work in higher occupational categories, and reach higher levels of educational attainment. Our analysis of attributes further suggests that creative individuals have a package of practical skills that allows them to thrive in work environments where learning from experience is important.

Suggested Citation

  • David Gill & Victoria Prowse, 2023. "The Creativity Premium: Exploring the Link Between Childhood Creativity and Life Outcomes," Purdue University Economics Working Papers 1333, Purdue University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pur:prukra:1333
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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Haan & Daniel Kemptner & Victoria Prowse & Maximilian Schaller, 2025. "Insurance, redistribution, and the inequality of lifetime income," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 16(2), pages 565-613, May.
    2. Gill, David & Knepper, Zachary & Prowse, Victoria & Zhou, Junya, 2025. "How cognitive skills affect strategic behavior: Cognitive ability, fluid intelligence and judgment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 82-95.
    3. Yun Cai, 2024. "The role of the school innovative climate in the relationship between proactive personality and creative behavior among students from Chinese normal colleges," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Katharina Laske & Nathalie Römer & Marina Schröder, 2024. "Piece-Rate Incentives and Idea Generation – An Experimental Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 11594, CESifo.
    5. van Lent, Max, 2025. "Peer creativity and academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).

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