Creativity over Time and Space - A Historical Analysis of European Cities

Michel Serafinelli and Guido Tabellini

No 8973, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Creativity is often highly concentrated in time and space, and across different domains. What explains the formation and decay of clusters of creativity? We match data on notable individuals born in Europe between the 11th and the 19th century with historical city data. The production and attraction of creative talent is associated with city institutions that protected economic and political freedoms and promoted local autonomy. Instead, indicators of local economic conditions such as city size and real wages, do not predict creative clusters. We also show that famous creatives are spatially concentrated and clustered across disciplines, that their spatial mobility has remained stable over the centuries, and that creative clusters are persistent but less than population.

Keywords: innovation; agglomeration; political institutions; immigration; gravity; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J61 O10 R10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-geo, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-ino, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8973

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