Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth”. Mokyr was cited by the Nobel committee “for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress”. This column, written by two of his students and now fellow scholars, outlines how his work has reshaped our understanding of virtually every fact and theory associated with industrialisation – from the mechanics of machine design and production processes to the intellectual and political forces that changed entire societies. One core message of this extensive body of research is particularly timely: economic progress is critically dependent on open intellectual inquiry, on the free exchange of ideas, and on a vigorous defence of scientific principles.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 was awarded “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth” with one half to Joel Mokyr “for having identified ...

Airdrops into Gaza have previously been criticized as insufficient and impractical. The United Nations has called for an urgent ceasefire, though talks appeared Friday to have collapsed.