Creativity does not Equal Innovation

I was catching up on my reading the other day and came across an article in the July 3rd issue of BusinessWeek magazine that I completely disagree with. It is titles "The Myth of Creativity" by Robin Hanson, an economist at George Mason University. In the article, professor Hanson argues that individual creativity matters little and that a few less creative people or ideas would not be missed in the grand scheme of things. This falls under the category of why economists should stick to economics. Though many "creative" ideas do not appear to have any impact on economic growth, according to the author, I disagree. Highly creative people, in societies that encourage and embrace new ideas are the driving engine behind economic growth.

Look at the societies that have stifled creativity, the USSR, Feudalism and others have all eventually failed because their creative classes were not encouraged to think creatively or truly contribute to the growth of their society. When you have many creative people contributing to society then there are a myriad of options and new ideas that are constantly being introduced. The good ones become part of the fabric of society, the less successful ones, however, often do not die, but become the seeds of other ideas that contribute down the road. Saying we need less creativity, as professor Hanson does, is extremely shortsighted in my mind and completely overlooks the contributions that lots of creative ideas constantly being introduced make to the economic growth of a society.

Another aspect of the article that I found disturbing was professor Hanson's failure to recognize the difference between creativity and innovation. Innovation is a process, creativity is inspiration and ideas. In my mind you cannot have innovation without creativity, but you can be creative without being terribly innovative. Again, I think this is an area where the economist does not understand the different natures of creativity and innovation and merely lumps the two together.