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6 - The economics of creativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

David Throsby
David Throsby
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
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Summary

I am sorry to say that artists will always be sufficiently jealous of one another, whether you pay them large or low prices; and as for stimulus to exertion, believe me, no good work in this world was ever done for money, nor while the slightest thought of money affected the painter's mind. Whatever idea of pecuniary value enters into his thoughts as he works, will, in proportion to the distinctness of its presence, shorten his power. A real painter will work for you exquisitely, if you give him … bread and water and salt; and a bad painter will work badly and hastily, though you give him a palace to live in, and a princedom to live upon … And I say this, not because I despise the great painter, but because I honour him; and I should no more think of adding to his respectability or happiness by giving him riches, than, if Shakespeare or Milton were alive, I should think we added to their respectability, or were likely to get better work from them, by making them millionaires.

(John Ruskin, The Political Economy of Art, 1857)

Introduction

The concept of creativity as a dynamic force in human behaviour has long been a subject for study among psychologists, sociologists, art theorists and others in fields ranging from child development to business management. It has been of no interest to economists. Creativity has entered the discourse of economics only as it may be the generator of innovation and hence the precursor of technological change. Even there, the act of creative thought has been seen as essentially exogenous, arising as a result of processes beyond the reach or interest of economic theory or analysis.

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Economics and Culture , pp. 93 - 109
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2000

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