The CORE Academy is honored to announce that Professor Philippe Aghion, Fellow of the Academy in the Division of Social Sciences, has been awarded The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025, together with Joel Mokyr and Peter Howitt. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cites their “explanation of innovation-driven economic growth,” awarding one half to Joel Mokyr “for identifying 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' work shows that economic growth cannot be taken for granted. We must uphold the mechanisms that underly creative destruction, so that we do not fall back into stagnation.” — John Hassler, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences （NobelPrize.org)
Laureates at a glance
Joel Mokyr (Northwestern University; Tel Aviv): Illuminated how scientific explanations and useful knowledge co-evolved to sustain cumulative innovation since the Industrial Revolution.
Philippe Aghion (Collège de France; INSEAD; LSE) Co-developed the Schumpeterian “creative destruction” growth paradigm, linking entry, competition, and innovation to long-run productivity.
Peter Howitt (Brown University): Co-authored the seminal 1992 framework modelling the innovation-competition-growth nexus.
Short research profiles
Joel Mokyr — Economic historian whose work shows that sustained growth required the interweaving of scientific explanation with craft know-how, catalyzed by Enlightenment norms (measurement, replication, skepticism). He highlights the role of open intellectual climates in lowering resistance to change.
Philippe Aghion — Pioneer of modern innovation-and-growth theory. His work with Howitt demonstrates how temporary monopoly profits spur R&D, yet dominance and business-stealing can distort incentives—yielding nuanced guidance on competition policy, antitrust, and R&D subsidies.
Peter Howitt — Co-architect of the macroeconomic model that places firm dynamics and technology replacement at the core of long-run productivity, enabling rigorous analysis of optimal R&D and the institutional conditions that keep the innovation engine running.
About the Nobel Prize & the Economics Prize
Established under Alfred Nobel’s will, the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace have been awarded since 1901, with ceremonies held each 10 December (Stockholm for most prizes; Oslo for the Peace Prize). The Prize in Economic Sciences, created by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969, is administered alongside the Nobel Prizes and selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Economics Prize traditionally concludes Nobel Week, as it does in 2025.
This year's other Nobel laureates (2025)
Physiology or Medicine: Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi — For discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance; they identified regulatory T cells as the immune system’s “security guards” that prevent self-attack.
Physics: John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis — For the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit, showing quantum properties on a human scale (in superconducting devices).
Chemistry: Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi — For the development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), porous crystalline materials that revolutionized gas storage, catalysis, and separations.
Literature: László Krasznahorkai — “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Peace: María Corina Machado — For her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
(As is customary, the Economics Prize is the final announcement of Nobel Week, concluding the 2025 laureate roll-out on 6–13 October.)
Message from the CORE Secretariat
Innovation is the engine; institutions are the keel. The 2025 laureates illuminate how open inquiry, competitive vigor, and thoughtful governance convert invention into durable prosperity—an ethos that resonates with our mission: Advancing Knowledge for Humanity.
We extend our warmest congratulations to Professor Philippe Aghion and his co-laureates, Joel Mokyr and Peter Howitt. May their work continue to inspire scholars and policymakers to steward the delicate cycle of creation, displacement, and renewal that lifts human welfare.
References and Further Reading
1. Prize in Economic Sciences 2025 — Press release; Popular information; Scientific background: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2025/press-release/
2. CORE Academy Fellow page for Philippe Aghion: https://coreacad.org/Member.aspx?ProId=104
3. 
Popular Science Background From stagnation to sustained growth.pdf
4. Scientific Background to the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025.pdf