## Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster?

_IMF Working Papers, December 7, 2018_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Ruchir Agarwal, Patrick Gaulé
- Published: December 7, 2018
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484385869.001

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### Summary
- The advancement of the knowledge frontier is crucial for technological innovation and human progress.
- Using novel data from the setting of mathematics, the paper establishes two main results:
  - Individuals who demonstrate exceptional talent in their teenage years have an irreplaceable ability to create new ideas over their lifetime, suggesting that talent is a central ingredient in the production of knowledge.
  - Such talented individuals born in low- or middle-income countries are systematically less likely to become knowledge producers.
- The findings suggest that policies to encourage exceptionally-talented youth to pursue scientific careers—especially those from lower income countries—could accelerate the advancement of the knowledge frontier.

### Key Findings
- Exceptional teenage talent predicts an irreplaceable lifetime capacity to create new ideas.
- Talented individuals born in low- or middle-income countries are systematically less likely to become knowledge producers.
- The research setting and data are drawn from mathematics (novel data from the setting of mathematics).

### Policy Implications and Recommendations
- Encourage exceptionally-talented youth to pursue scientific careers to accelerate the knowledge frontier.
- Prioritize policies targeting talented youth from low- or middle-income countries to reduce systematic barriers to becoming knowledge producers.

### Subjects and Keywords
- Subject: Commodities, Education, Gold, National accounts, Personal income, Silver, Tax incentives
- Keywords: Eastern Europe, Global, Gold, IMO, IMO medalist, IMO participant, IMO performance, IMO score, innovation, knowledge frontier, knowledge production, Personal income, Silver, talent, universities, WP

*IMF Working Paper: "Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster?", Ruchir Agarwal and Patrick Gaulé, December 7, 2018.*

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## Content in this bundle

- **Invisible Geniuses: Could the Knowledge Frontier Advance Faster?, WP/18/268, December 2018**
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2018/12/07/invisible-geniuses-could-the-knowledge-frontier-advance-faster-46383_