2025 Nobel Prize in Economics: Reinventing the core of growth through “creative destruction”

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on October 13, 2025, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences issued a statement in Stockholm announcing that three scholars from both sides of the Atlantic jointly won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics for their research on the “theory of achieving sustained growth through creative destruction”. Joel Moggill of Northwestern University, Philip Agion of the London School of Economics and the European School of Business Administration in Paris, and Peter Howitt of Brown University were winners this year. When Agion learned of the award at a telephone press conference, he said “I can't say anything right now,” while Mogil will only receive half of the SEK 11 million (approximately US$1.2 million) prize, while Agion and Howitt will share the remaining half.

The official name of the award is the “Riksbank of Sweden Commemorating the Alfred Nobel Prize in Economics”. It was established by the Swedish Central Bank in 1968 as a supplement to the Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace. These awards were established in accordance with the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel's 1896 will.

Christine Enflo, a member of the award committee and professor of economic theory at Lund University, stressed at the press conference that the work of the winners highlighted the importance of maintaining the elements of economic growth, and pointed out that “progress should not be taken for granted; society needs to pay attention to the factors that can generate and maintain economic growth, including science-based innovation, creative damage, and social attitudes willing to change.”

Dutch-born economic historian Mokil studied the Industrial Revolution and its subsequent stages, proving that “sustained economic growth” was initially ignited and maintained by wave after wave of technological innovation. His two colleagues, Agion and Howitt, then turned this historical process of “using new technology to eliminate old technology” into a deductible and measurable “creative destruction” growth model in 1992.

Of the three winners, Agion, born in Paris, is the only scholar living in Europe. He once proposed that French President Emmanuel Macron raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The reform is currently being used by the Socialist Party as a core bargaining chip in exchange for the approval and cancellation of the budget.

When asked about the threat that US tariffs pose to economic growth, Agion clearly objected: “I don't welcome the wave of protectionism in the US, which is bad for us, growth, and innovation. European countries must be aware that the US and China must not be allowed to dominate the technology sector, but they are lagging behind.”

He further pointed out that the main reason for the decline in the European economy compared to the US is “failure to achieve breakthrough high-tech innovation.”

Born in Canada, Howitt often collaborates with Agion to study Schumpeter's growth theory. This theory is named after the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, who first proposed the concept of “creative destruction.”

This year's award is the third time in the history of the Nobel Prize in Economics shared by three scholars. Previously, in 2024, the award was given to three American scholars for their research on the impact of former European empires on economic growth.

Other notable winners include former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, and Philip Devig, who won the award for banking and financial crisis research in 2022, and Claudia Golding, who won the award for gender pay gap research in 2023.

Although Golding has been awarded in recent years, the Nobel Prize has long had gender inequalities, especially in the field of science. There are only three female winners in the history of the Nobel Prize in Economics. As a result, the Nobel Prize in Economics has the highest percentage of men after the Physics Prize.