Nobel Prize 2025: how economists crack the code of innovation-driven growth

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics on Monday.

This year's Nobel Prize in Economics will be awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their groundbreaking work on innovation-driven economic growth.

The trio was honoured for their exceptional contribution to the field and significantly advanced the understanding of how technological change and innovation fuel long-term economic expansion, influencing both policy and academic perspectives worldwide.

The Nobel Prize 2025 story: How innovation sparks progress

In its press release, the Royal Swedish Academy mentioned the trio was awarded "for having explained innovation-driven economic growth," with one half to Joel Mokyr "for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress."

The other half of the Nobel Prize 2025 goes jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction."

Their research indicates that technology is indeed the driving force behind long-term economic growth. Things like new inventions, smarter ways of producing goods, and big scientific discoveries are what make economies richer over time.

The committee pointed out that, contrary to the popular belief that economies just naturally grow, most of history actually saw very little progress. It’s when innovation kicks in that real growth starts to happen.

Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt looked into the idea of “creative destruction,” basically, how new technologies and businesses replace old ones, keeping industries fresh and moving forward.

Their research helps explain why some countries manage to stay prosperous while others struggle to grow.

By digging into how innovation, productivity, and national well-being are connected, they have given policymakers a roadmap for supporting research, education, and investment in fresh ideas.

This year’s Nobel Prize really highlights how important it is to foster creativity and innovation if we want a strong society and a healthy global economy.

When ideas drive economies forward

This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics feels especially relevant given how fast technology is changing our world.

The winning research dives into why innovation drives prosperity, something we can clearly see today with the rise of artificial intelligence, robotics, electric vehicles, and clean energy.

AI is reshaping entire industries, from healthcare and finance to journalism, pushing productivity to new heights and forcing us to rethink how work gets done.

Robots are now handling complex industrial tasks and even teaming up with humans, making factories, warehouses, and service jobs more efficient than ever.

Meanwhile, electric vehicles and renewable energy, powered by smart software and data, are transforming how we move and power our lives.

These shifts are opening up huge opportunities but also sparking big policy questions.

In many ways, this Nobel Prize 2025 highlights how crucial it is for governments and businesses to adapt, through better training, innovation-friendly rules, and policies that make sure everyone benefits from the tech-driven changes shaping our global economy.