Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt Win 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics for Explaining Innovation-Driven Growth
Stockholm, October 13: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their groundbreaking contributions in explaining how innovation drives sustained economic growth.
The trio’s pioneering research has deepened global understanding of how technological progress and creative destruction foster long-term prosperity and reshape economies over time.
Recognition for Innovation and Creative Destruction
According to the Nobel Committee, the award honours the economists “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth.” One half of the prize goes to Joel Mokyr “for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress,” while the other half is shared between Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction.”
In its official statement, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences highlighted how Mokyr’s work drew on historical evidence to uncover why sustained growth became a permanent feature of modern economies. Meanwhile, Aghion and Howitt’s collaborative research, dating back to a 1992 article, developed a mathematical model of creative destruction — the process through which new innovations replace outdated technologies and industries.
“When a new and better product enters the market, the companies selling older products lose out,” the committee explained, underscoring the dynamic and disruptive nature of technological advancement.
Profiles of the Laureates
Joel Mokyr, originally from the Netherlands, serves as a Professor at Northwestern University in the United States. His extensive historical analyses have connected the Industrial Revolution’s origins to cultural and institutional factors that encouraged innovation and knowledge exchange.
Philippe Aghion, a Professor at Collège de France, INSEAD (Paris), and The London School of Economics, is widely recognized for his contributions to growth theory and policy-oriented research on innovation, inequality, and productivity.
Peter Howitt, a Professor at Brown University in the United States, is known for his collaborative work with Aghion in developing modern growth theory and modelling the long-term impacts of technological change on economic development.
A Legacy of Economic Thought
The committee noted that the laureates’ insights have shaped both academic research and economic policy, providing frameworks to understand how competition, innovation, and entrepreneurship contribute to productivity and welfare. Their work continues to influence how governments design policies that encourage innovation and respond to the disruptions it brings.
Last year’s 2024 Economics Nobel went to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson for their research on the political and institutional roots of prosperity — exploring why some countries are rich while others remain poor.
About the Prize
Formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the award was established in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank. Although it is technically not one of Alfred Nobel’s original prizes, it is presented alongside the others — in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace — every year on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
Each laureate receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a monetary award of $1.2 million, to be shared among the winners.
The 2025 Nobel announcements began last week, starting with the Medicine or Physiology Prize on October 6, followed by Physics, Chemistry, Literature, and Peace, before concluding with the Economics Prize.
Final Thoughts from TheTrendingPeople.com
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics celebrates not just three distinguished economists but also the transformative power of innovation. Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt’s contributions underline how creativity and technological advancement remain the engines of global progress. As the world faces new economic challenges in the age of AI and digital disruption, their work offers a timely reminder: sustainable growth begins with ideas that dare to replace the old with the new.