Joel Komyr, Philip Aghion, and Peter Howitt have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their groundbreaking research on innovation, productivity, and long-term economic growth. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award on Monday, recognising decades of work that reshaped how economists understand the forces driving prosperity and technological progress.
Groundbreaking insights into innovation and growth
Half of the prize goes to Joel Komyr, whose historical analyses have illuminated how innovation and technological change fuel modern economic development. The other half is shared by Philip Aghion and Peter Howitt, honoured for their development of the Schumpeterian growth model — a framework that connects innovation, competition, and creative destruction to long-term productivity gains.
Their combined work has profoundly influenced both academic research and public policy, demonstrating how the interplay between market dynamics, innovation incentives, and institutional design determines the pace and sustainability of economic growth.
A foundation for modern economic policy
Aghion and Howitt’s model built upon Joseph Schumpeter’s early 20th-century ideas of “creative destruction”, translating them into formal economic theory. Their research explains how new technologies replace old ones, why some firms thrive while others disappear, and how education, competition, and regulation can either accelerate or hinder this process.
Komyr’s contributions, meanwhile, bridge economic history and growth theory. His studies of the Industrial Revolution and later technological waves have revealed the historical roots of modern prosperity and offered evidence on how policy environments shape innovation outcomes across centuries.
Broader significance for today’s challenges
The laureates’ work has informed debates on productivity slowdowns, the role of research and development, and how innovation policy can foster inclusive growth. Their theories underpin modern thinking on how economies transition through technological shifts — from industrialisation to digitalisation, and now artificial intelligence.
In awarding the 2025 prize, the Nobel Committee highlighted that understanding innovation is central to addressing today’s global economic challenges: stagnating productivity, rising inequality, and climate-driven industrial transformation.
Continuing the Nobel tradition of advancing knowledge
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, established by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968 in memory of Alfred Nobel, honours contributions that advance the understanding of how economies operate and evolve.
Last year’s laureates, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson, were recognised for research on institutions and development — work that complements this year’s focus on innovation and growth.
Together, Komyr, Aghion, and Howitt join a distinguished lineage of scholars whose ideas continue to shape economic thought and global policymaking.
Background on the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was established in 1968 by Sveriges Riksbank (the Swedish Central Bank) in memory of Alfred Nobel. It is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and presented at the annual Nobel ceremony alongside the original prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.
The prize recognises outstanding contributions to the field of economics—typically groundbreaking research that enhances the understanding of how economies function, helps design better institutions, or influences public policy.
Since its inception, the prize has been awarded 56 times to 96 laureates. Each year’s selection process is rigorous, involving confidential nominations and evaluations by leading international experts. The prize announcement traditionally takes place in early to mid-October, followed by the Nobel lectures and award ceremony in December in Stockholm.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson for their research into how political and economic institutions shape long-term prosperity and inequality. Their work, widely regarded as transformative, has reshaped thinking on development economics and the roots of national wealth.
In 2025, attention once again turns to Stockholm, where the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will unveil the next laureate or laureates whose work has made a lasting impact on the discipline and the world economy.
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