Creativity Over Time and Space

Abstract

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: agglomeration, Gravity, Human Capital, Immigration, Innovation, Political Institutions

JEL Classification: J24, J61, O10, R10