Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster?

Ruchir Agarwal and Patrick Gaulé

No 11977, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The advancement of the knowledge frontier is crucial for technological innovation and human progress. Using novel data from the setting of mathematics, this paper establishes two results. First, we document that individuals who demonstrate exceptional talent in their teenage years have an irreplaceable ability to create new ideas over their lifetime, suggesting that talent is a central ingredient for the production of knowledge. Second, such talented individuals born in low- or middle-income countries are systematically less likely to become knowledge producers. Our findings suggest that policies to encourage exceptionally-talented youth to pursue scientific careers - especially those from lower income countries - could accelerate the advancement of the knowledge frontier.

Keywords: innovation; knowledge frontier; talent; IMO; mathematics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J24 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 66 pages
Date: 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-ino, nep-knm and nep-lma
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Published - published: American Economic Review: Insights, 2020, 2 (4), 409 - 424

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https://docs.iza.org/dp11977.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster? (2020)
Working Paper: Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster? (2018)
Working Paper: Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster? (2018)
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