Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, Peter Howitt join 99 other laureates in economic sciences who’ve been awarded the economic sciences prize. The youngest laureate is Esther Duflo who received the prize at 46 in 2019 while Leonid Hurwicz is the oldest laureate is recelived the prize in 2007 aged 90.
1 / 5The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences for this year was awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, Peter Howitt for “showing how new technology can drive sustained growth.” They’ve won 11 million Swedish kronor with one half to Joel Mokyr and the other half jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. (Image: The Nobel Prize)
2 / 5Joel Mokyr who is a professor at Northwestern University in the US and Tel Aviv University in Israel, won the prize “for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress”. Joel Mokyr’s work highlights that sustained growth requires not just successful innovations, but also the scientific understanding of why they work to enable building upon them. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
3 / 5Winner of the other half Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt won the prize for their work on “the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction”. John Hassler, Chair of the Committee for the prize in economic sciences, said, “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”.
4 / 5A total of 57 Nobel prize in economic sciences have been awarded to 99 laureates so far including three women. The youngest laureate is Esther Duflo who received the prize at 46 in 2019 while Leonid Hurwicz is the oldest laureate who received the prize in 2007 aged 90. (Image: Reuters)
5 / 5Unlike the other four Nobel categories established in 1901 under Alfred Nobel’s will, the Economic Sciences award was introduced much later, in 1968, through a donation from Sweden’s central bank Sveriges Riksbank. It was created on the bank’s 300th anniversary in memory of Alfred Nobel. While the prize continues to be funded by the bank each year, the same selection principles apply to this category as well. (Image: AP)
