Arts majors as entrepreneurs and innovators

Abstract

This study examines the role of college graduates with degrees in the arts, STEM, and other creative fields as entrepreneurs and innovators in the US economy. As creativity is a trait of art students and is important for those acting as entrepreneurs and innovators in an economy, arts majors have the potential to play an important role in these areas. Using American Community Survey data, we look to identify arts, STEM, and other creative majors who are working in entrepreneurial occupations, those where self-employment is common, and innovative industries, those that are copyright intensive. As it is possible that the nature of arts occupations may be inherently more entrepreneurial and innovative, we compare arts majors to STEM and other creative majors also likely to work in such occupations. Using logistic regression, we find that majoring in a core arts field more than doubles an individual's likelihood of working in an entrepreneurial occupation or an innovative industry relative to non-creative majors. Other creative majors, like communications and STEM majors, are also associated with an increased likelihood of working as entrepreneurs or innovators. Relative to STEM and other creative majors, majoring in a core arts field is associated with the greatest increase in the likelihood of working in an entrepreneurial occupation and third greatest increase in the likelihood of working in an innovative industry. While arts graduates play an important role in artistic creation, this paper highlights a role for these graduates as entrepreneurs and innovators in the US economy.

Arts majors and the Great Recession: a cross-sectional analysis of educational choices and employment outcomes

“…Additionally, long-term negative impacts on employment and earnings may further negatively impact the pipeline of potential artists, as higher pay outside of the arts is the most important factor arts majors report for choosing to work outside of the arts (Lena et al, 2014 ). As it relates to the broader economy, creativity is believed to be an important driver of economic growth, and recent work by Paulsen et al ( 2021 ) finds that college graduates with majors in the arts also play an important role in entrepreneurship and innovation in the US economy. A shrinkage of the pipeline of arts majors could in turn have a negative impact not just on artistic creation but also on entrepreneurship and innovation.…”

“…In contrast to findings using the SNAAP survey, authors using the ACS have found that the majority of college graduates with majors in the arts work in a non-arts field (BFAMFAPhD, 2014 ; Wassall & Alper, 2018 ). Paulsen et al ( 2021 ) find that graduates of the arts play a significant role in entrepreneurship and innovation in the USA, perhaps suggesting an alternative way in which arts majors can contribute to an economy beyond artistic creation. Having a college degree in the arts is associated with higher earnings among those who work in the arts, but the earnings of arts majors are still very low relative to the earnings of college graduates more generally in the USA (Wassall & Alper, 2018 ).…”

“…In looking to identify the impact of the Great Recession on art majors, the sample is restricted to college graduates estimated to have graduated 2 between 2004 and 2015. Because there is no accepted set of undergraduate college majors defined as art majors, two definitions are utilized, consistent with Paulsen et al ( 2021 ). Core art majors include fine arts, drama and theater, music, visual and performing arts, commercial art and graphic design, film, video and photographic arts, art history and criticism, studio arts, and miscellaneous fine arts.…”

“…Core art majors include fine arts, drama and theater, music, visual and performing arts, commercial art and graphic design, film, video and photographic arts, art history and criticism, studio arts, and miscellaneous fine arts. 3 Paulsen et al ( 2021 ) also include the architecture major, as architects are one of the National Endowment for the Art’s (NEA) arts occupations. In this analysis, architecture majors will be considered separately, consistent with Woronkowicz ( 2015 ), as the crash of the housing market during the Great Recession likely had an outsized effect on architects.…”

“…Second, while other works have focused on employment-related outcomes, this work also looks at the impact on educational outcomes for art majors. Beyond playing a role in artistic creation, college graduates with majors in the arts play an important role in entrepreneurship and innovation (Paulsen et al, 2021 ). As entrepreneurship and innovation are important drivers of economic growth, understanding how economic downturns impact the educational choices and employment of arts majors can have important implications for both developed and developing economies.…”