Does Competition Kill? The Case of Classical Composers

Karol Borowiecki and Georgios Kavetsos

Economic Papers from Trinity College Dublin, Economics Department

Abstract: We investigate the impact of peer competition on longevity using a unique historical data set of classical composers. We measure the geographic concentration of peers by the number of composers located in the same area and the time spent in one of the main geographic clusters for classical music. Using instrumental variables, we find a significant negative effect of geographic concentration. An additional composer based in the same location decreases longevity by 2.3 years, on average. Besides the widely known economic benefits associated with competition, these findings suggest that significant negative welfare externalities exist as well.

Keywords: geographic concentration; well-being; mortality; culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I12 N90 R11 Z19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cul and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep1111

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