Age and the Impact of Innovations

Scientists are getting older. Is this a problem? What’s the relationship between age and innovation?

This podcast is an audio read through of the (initial version of the) article Age and the Impact of Innovations, originally published on New Things Under the Sun.

Articles Mentioned
Cui, Haochuan, Lingfei Wu, and James A. Evans. 2022. Aging Scientists and Slowed Advance. arXiv 2202.04044. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2202.04044

Jones, Benjamin, E.J. Reedy, and Bruce A. Weinberg. 2014. Age and Scientific Genius. NBER Working Paper 19866. https://doi.org/10.3386/w19866

Yu, Huifeng, Gerald Marschke, Matthew B. Ross, Joseph Staudt and Bruce Weinberg. 2022. Publish or Perish: Selective Attrition as a Unifying Explanation for Patterns in Innovation over the Career. Journal of Human Resources 1219-10630R1. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.59.2.1219-10630R1

Wu, L., Wang, D. & Evans, J.A. Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology. Nature 566, 378–382 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-0941-9

Kaltenberg, Mary, Adam B. Jaffe, and Margie E. Lachman. 2021. Invention and the Life Course: Age Differences in Patenting. NBER Working Paper 28769. https://doi.org/10.3386/w28769

Liu, Lu, Yang Wang, Roberta Sinatra, C. Lee Giles, Chaoming Song, and Dan Wang. 2018. Hot streaks in artistic, cultural, and scientific careers. Nature 559: 396-399. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0315-8