IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/recsxx/v12y2009i1p1-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Human Creativity

Author

Listed:
  • David W. Galenson

Abstract

There are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation, and each is associated with a distinct pattern of discovery over the life cycle. Experimental innovators work by trial and error, and arrive at their major contributions gradually, late in life. Conceptual innovators make sudden breakthroughs, usually at an early age. Both types of innovators have made important contributions to art and science.

Suggested Citation

  • David W. Galenson, 2009. "Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Human Creativity," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:12:y:2009:i:1:p:1-9
    DOI: 10.1016/S1514-0326(09)60002-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1016/S1514-0326(09)60002-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/S1514-0326(09)60002-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jasmin Droege, 2022. "First impression biases in the performing arts: taste-based discrimination and the value of blind auditioning," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(3), pages 391-437, September.
    2. Etro, Federico & Pagani, Laura, 2012. "The Market for Paintings in Italy During the Seventeenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 423-447, May.
    3. Laibson, David I. & Agarwal, Sumit & Driscoll, John C. & Gabaix, Xavier, 2009. "The Age of Reason: Financial Decisions over the Life-Cycle with Implications for Regulation," Scholarly Articles 4554335, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    4. Bertacchini, Enrico & Friel, Martha, 2013. "Understanding Creativity and Innovation in Industrial Design: an Historical and Empirical Assessment," EBLA Working Papers 201301, University of Turin.
    5. Sumit Agarwal & John C Driscoll & Xavier Gabaix & David Laibson, 2007. "The Age of Reason: Financial Decisions Over the Lifecycle," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000001752, UCLA Department of Economics.
    6. Federico Etro & Silvia Marchesi & Laura Pagani, 2015. "The Labor Market In The Art Sector Of Baroque Rome," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 365-387, January.
    7. Jun-ichi Itaya & Heinrich Ursprung, 2008. "Price and Death," CESifo Working Paper Series 2213, CESifo.
    8. Luigi Di Gaetano & Isidoro Mazza & Anna Mignosa, 2019. "On the allocation of talents in the contemporary art market," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(1), pages 121-143, March.
    9. Barlow, Matthew A. & Hesterly, William S. & Cameron Verhaal, J., 2023. "Catching a falling star: Mobility of declining star performers, peer effects, and organizational performance in the National Football League," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    10. David W. Galenson, 2005. "Toward Abstraction: Ranking European Painters of the Early Twentieth Century," NBER Working Papers 11501, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Matthias Krapf, 2015. "Age and complementarity in scientific collaboration," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 751-781, September.
    12. Zhao, Hao & O'Connor, Gina & Wu, Jihong & Lumpkin, G.T., 2021. "Age and entrepreneurial career success: A review and a meta-analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    13. Lucas, Brian J. & Mai, Ke Michael, 2022. "Illumination and elbow grease: A theory of how mental models of the creative process influence creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Federico Etro & Silvia Marchesi & Laura Pagani, 2011. "The Labor Market in the Seventeenth-Century Italian Art Sector," Working Papers 215, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2011.
    15. Stephen Sheppard, 2021. "Image Content, Complexity, and the Market Value of Art," Department of Economics Working Papers 2021-08, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    16. Murmann, Martin & Salmivaara, Virva & Kibler, Ewald, 2023. "How does late-career entrepreneurship relate to innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    17. Alexander Cuntz & Matthias Sahli, 2023. "Ars longa, vita brevis: The death of the creator and the impact on exhibitions and auction markets," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 76, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:12:y:2009:i:1:p:1-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/recs .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.