This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics scientifically confirms what modern economies have been demonstrating for decades – that innovation is a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth.

The 2025 laureates – Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt – were awarded for their groundbreaking research explaining how innovations drive growth and replace outdated technologies, in a process known as “creative destruction.”

The three laureates come from different schools of economic thought, but they share a common goal – understanding how technological progress transforms societies and economies.

• Joel Mokyr (79), of Dutch origin, a professor at Northwestern University, is renowned for his research on industrial revolutions and long-term trends in economic development.
• Philippe Aghion (69), a professor at the Collège de France and the London School of Economics, uses mathematical models to explain the mechanisms of innovation and their impact on growth.
• Peter Howitt (79), a professor at Brown University, together with Aghion, developed the renowned 1992 model of creative destruction, which has become a cornerstone of modern growth theory.

The concept of “creative destruction,” originating from Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, describes the continuous process in which new technologies replace old ones, bringing progress but also changes to existing industries.

The Nobel Committee highlighted that this year’s laureates “have explained and quantified how this process works and why it is crucial for long-term economic growth.”

The Committee’s Chair, John Hassler, stated:

“Their work shows that growth cannot be taken for granted. We must maintain the mechanisms that enable creative destruction in order to avoid stagnation.”

The prize, worth 11 million Swedish kronor (about 1.2 million euros), will be distributed with half going to Mokyr, and the other half shared between Aghion and Howitt.

This is the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, established in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in honor of Alfred Nobel.

The official award ceremony will take place on December 10 in Stockholm, on the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.

This year’s laureates’ research reminds us that economic growth does not arise by chance, but from continuous investment in knowledge, research, and innovation.

Without the willingness to let the old give way to the new – there is no progress.