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Economic growth

Nobel Economics Prize Awarded to Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt for Explanations of Innovation-Driven Growth

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday that Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt have been awarded the 2025 Nobel economics prize for their explanations of innovation-driven economic growth. The prestigious Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is worth 11 million Swedish crowns, approximately $1.2 million. The laureates' work emphasizes the importance of sustained growth and highlights the threats to continued growth, as economic stagnation has been the norm for most of human history.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, also known as the Nobel economics prize, was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their explanations of innovation-driven economic growth.
  • The prize is worth 11 million Swedish crowns, approximately $1.2 million, and is the final prize to be given out this year.
  • Mokyr, a professor at Northwestern University, was awarded half the prize, with Aghion and Howitt sharing the other half.
  • According to the Nobel Committee, Mokyr's work used historical observations to identify the factors necessary for sustained growth based on technological innovations.
  • Aghion and Howitt produced a mathematical model of creative destruction, where new and better products replace the old, an endless process driving innovation.
  • The economics prize was established in 1969, and this marks the 56th year the prize has been awarded.
  • Previous well-known winners of the economics prize include former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, and Milton Friedman.

Statistics:

  • The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel totals 11 million Swedish crowns.
  • The US dollar equivalent of the prize is approximately $1.2 million.
  • The economics prize was first awarded in 1969 to Norway's Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen from the Netherlands for work in dynamic economic modelling.
  • 56 years have passed since the prize was first established.
  • The Nobel Committee awarded the economics prize to US-based academics Simon Johnson, James Robinson, and Daron Acemoglu for research on the relationship between colonization and public institutions last year.

Sources:

  • [Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]
  • [Nobel Committee]
  • [Copyright Saudi Research and Publishing Co.]

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