War and Individual Creativity: Tentative Evidence in Relation to Composers

Karol Borowiecki and John O'Hagan

Economic Papers from Trinity College Dublin, Economics Department

Abstract: The relationship between conflict and individual artistic output is ambiguous, both a priori and in terms of the evidence. To address this question in relation to composers, we employ a sample of 115 prominent classical composers born after 1800 and attempt to link their annual productivity with the incidence of wars. While the sample is small and the measure of creative productivity limited, we find evidence that the impact of wars on individual creative production is significant and negative, in keeping with the evidence on the impact of wars on overall societal creative output.

Keywords: productivity; conflict; war; composer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 D74 F51 J24 N40 O31 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff
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:tcd:tcduee:tep1711

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