The Journal of Development Economics has achieved a 2026 Impact Factor of 4.6, an international journal. Professor Sima Di published the paper, entitled “Academic freedom and creativity: An empirical investigation ”,in this prestigious journal. The abstract and link to the full paper are provided below.
Academic freedom and creativity: An empirical investigation
Di Sima
Abstract:This study examines the impact of academic freedom reform on university graduates’ creativity using a large, multi-decade, cross-country sample. We construct a novel creativity index based on occupational task data and analyze how reforms in an individual’s home country affect their creativity after immigrating to the United States. Exploiting variation in reform timing across countries, we find that academic freedom reform significantly enhances graduates’ labor market creativity. Results are robust to multiple DID estimators, alternative specifications, placebo tests, and IV methods, as well as approaches addressing potential biases. Effects are particularly pronounced for developing countries, environments with decentralized governance, and low corruption. Reforms appear to boost creativity by encouraging higher educational attainment, facilitating entry into high-tech and research-oriented fields, and promoting managerial and professional roles. Our findings underscore the economic value of academic freedom and its potential as a policy instrument for nurturing student creativity.
Link: Academic freedom and creativity: An empirical investigation - ScienceDirect
