Economics Nobel prize won by researchers who showed how science boosts growth

"The 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize for Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to three researchers who have shown how technological and scientific innovation, coupled to market competition, drive economic growth. One half of the prize goes to economic-historian Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and the other half is split between the economic theorists Philippe Aghion of the Collège de France and the London School of Economics and Peter Howitt of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. "I can't find the words to express what I feel," Aghion said. He says he will use the money for research in his laboratory at the Collège de France."

""The award "underlies the importance in investing in science for innovation and long-term economic growth", says economist Diane Coyle of the University of Cambridge. "It's great to see the Nobel prize recognize the importance of this topic," adds innovation policy researcher Richard Jones of the University of Manchester, UK. "It's important that economists understand the conditions that lead to technological progress," he adds. The winners, says Coyle, "have long been on people's list of potential candidates"."

"Economic growth at a rate of about 1-2 per cent annually is the norm for industrialized nations today. But such growth rates did not happen in earlier times, despite technological innovations, such as the windmill and the printing press. Mokyr showed that the key difference between now and then was what he calls "useful knowledge", or innovations based on scientific understanding. One example is the advances made during the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the eighteenth century, when improvements in steam engines could be made systematic rather than by trial and error."

Three researchers won the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize for Economic Sciences for demonstrating how technological and scientific innovation, together with market competition, drive economic growth. One half of the prize went to economic historian Joel Mokyr and the other half was split between Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. Aghion plans to use the prize funds for research at the Collège de France. Economists emphasize investing in science to foster innovation and long-term growth. Mokyr identified "useful knowledge"—innovations grounded in scientific understanding—as the key factor enabling systematic improvements during the Industrial Revolution. Aghion and Howitt clarified market mechanisms that sustain modern economic growth.

Read at Nature