Nobel Prize in Economics

On 13th October 2025, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their pioneering work in explaining innovation-driven economic growth. It was the final Nobel Prize of the season.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized the laureates “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth,” with one half awarded to Joel Mokyr for identifying the historical and intellectual foundations of sustained technological progress, and the other half jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for their theory of growth through creative destruction.
Joel Mokyr’s research focused on understanding how technological innovation became a self-sustaining process, marking a turning point in human history and explaining why continuous growth became the norm after the Industrial Revolution.
Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt were recognized for their 1992 model of “creative destruction,” which describes how innovation simultaneously drives progress and displaces outdated technologies, creating a dynamic cycle of renewal and competition in the economy.
Their theoretical model showed that sustained economic growth relies on continuous innovation — where the emergence of new, superior products leads to the obsolescence of older ones, ensuring that economies evolve rather than stagnate.