Artistic creativity and extreme events: The heterogeneous impact of war on composers’ production

•This study adds to the debate on the association between war and creativity.•Individual level data for 115 prominent composers born after 1800 is used.•War is in general detrimental towards creativity, but the effect is heterogeneous.•Higher output is observed during defensive or victorious international wars.•These results could be attributable to emotional factors.

The relationship between extreme events and creativity is rather ambiguous and yet of significance across several disciplines. The following study adds to the debate by analyzing the impact of war on individual artistic output by building on a global sample of 115 prominent composers born after 1800. The study investigates how their productivity changes during various types of war and over their lifetime. Composers’ productivity decreases during war, however not so much for those turning 30 or those in late 50s or above. Interestingly, the effect is not negative for all types of war: higher output can be observed during defensive or victorious international wars. This result could be attributable to emotional factors.