Working Paper: NBER ID: w21134
Authors: Ajay Agrawal; Christian Catalini; Avi Goldfarb
Abstract: The extant literature linking slack time to innovation focuses on how slack time facilitates creative activities such as ideation, experimentation, and prototype development. We turn attention to how slack time may enable activities that are less creative but still important for innovation, namely mundane, execution-oriented tasks. First, we document the main effect: a sharp rise in innovative projects posted on a major crowdfunding platform when colleges are on break. Next, we report timing and project type evidence consistent with the causal interpretation that slack time drives innovation. Finally, we present a series of results consistent with the mundane task mechanism but not with the traditional creativity-related explanations. We do not rule out the possibility that creativity benefits from slack time. Instead, we introduce the idea that mundane, execution-oriented tasks, such as those associated with launching a crowdfunding campaign (e.g., administration, planning, promotion), are an important input to innovation that may benefit significantly from slack time.
Keywords: Slack Time; Innovation; Crowdfunding; Execution-oriented Tasks
JEL Codes: J22; L26; O31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increase in number of projects posted on Kickstarter (O36) | innovation output (O36) |
| type of educational institution (I23) | nature of projects posted (O22) |
| slack time (J22) | mundane task execution (D13) |
| mundane task execution (D13) | increase in number of projects posted on Kickstarter (O36) |
| slack time (J22) | increase in number of projects posted on Kickstarter (O36) |