2025 Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded for Innovation-Driven Growth

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 has been awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt “for explaining innovation-driven economic growth.”

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt “for explaining innovation-driven economic growth.”
• Their work explains how technological progress and creative destruction have led economies from stagnation to sustained prosperity over the past two centuries.
• Mokyr used historical evidence to explain why innovation became self-sustaining after the Industrial Revolution.
• He emphasized the need for scientific understanding, cultural openness to new ideas, and social acceptance of change as the basis for continuous progress.
• His research highlighted that before the modern era, stagnation was common because discoveries did not consistently lead to further innovation.
• In their historic 1992 research paper, Aghion and Howitt developed a mathematical model. Working on the theory of creative destruction, it demonstrated how new innovations replace old technologies.

Winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics

• 1 Joel Mokyr – Northwestern University, USA – Preconditions for sustainable growth through technological progress
• 2 Philippe Aghion – Collège de France, INSEAD (France), London School of Economics (UK) – Theory of sustainable growth through creative destruction
• 3 Peter Howitt – Brown University, USA

Nobel Prize in Economics

• Formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prize in Economics was established in 1968 by the Central Bank of Sweden.
• Technically, this prize is not a Nobel Prize, but it is awarded along with the other Nobel Prizes on December 10, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel. The award includes a diploma, a gold medal, and a cheque for USD 1.2 million.