Creativity over time and space

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