The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth” with one half to Joel Mokyr “for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress” and the other half jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction.”

The laureates’ research shows how new technologies replace outdated ones, fostering sustained prosperity and improving global living standards.

Joel Mokyr (b. 1946, Leiden, Netherlands) is the Robert H. Strotz Professor at Northwestern University, with a Ph.D. from Yale, focusing on the cultural roots of technological progress.

Philippe Aghion (b. 1956, Paris, France), a Harvard Ph.D., is a professor at Collège de France, INSEAD, and LSE, modelling competition’s role in innovation.

Peter Howitt (b. 1946, Canada), Lyn Crost Professor at Brown University with a Ph.D. from Northwestern, studies macroeconomic growth via technological change.

The 11 million Swedish kronor prize will be divided with one half awarded to Joel Mokyr and the other half jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. The ceremony is set for December 10, 2025, in Stockholm.

Last year’s recipients were Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.

The Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was established in 1968, after Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) made a donation to the Nobel Foundation on the bank’s 300th anniversary. The prize is awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm according to the same principles as for the Nobel Prizes that have been awarded since 1901.

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