Nobel’s economics prize recognises innovation-driven growth by Aghion, Howitt and Mokyr
Nobel winners Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt, were honoured for highlighting creative destruction’s role in technological progress
Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics on Monday for “having explained innovation-driven economic growth” including the key principle of creative destruction.
The winners represent contrasting but complementary approaches to economics. Mokyr is an economic historian who delved into long-term trends using historical sources, while Howitt and Aghion relied on mathematics to explain how creative destruction works.
Dutch-born Mokyr, 79, is from Northwestern University; Aghion, 69, is from the College de France and the London School of Economics; and Canadian-born Howitt, 79, is from Brown University.
Aghion said he was shocked by the honour. “I can’t find the words to express what I feel,” he said by phone to the press conference in Stockholm. He said he would invest his prize money in his research laboratory.
Asked about current trade wars and protectionism in the world, Aghion said: “I am not welcoming the protectionist way in the US. That is not good for … world growth and innovation.”
He also warned Europe that it must not let the United States and China dominate technological innovation.