The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2024 to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation-driven economic growth” with one half to Joel Mokyr “for having identified 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.”

Mokyr used historical sources as one means to uncover the causes of sustained growth becoming the new normal. Aghion and Howitt also studied the mechanisms behind sustained growth. In an article from 1992, they constructed a mathematical model for what is called creative destruction: when a new and better product enters the market, the companies selling the older products lose out.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) established this Prize in memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize.
• The oldest Laureate in Economic Sciences to date is Leonid Hurwicz, who was 90 years old when he was awarded in 2007. He is also the oldest Laureate to be awarded in all Prize categories.
• To date, the youngest Laureate in Economic Sciences is Esther Duflo followed by Kenneth J. Arrow, who was 51 years old when he was awarded in 1972.
• Elinor Ostrom was the first female Laureate in Economic Sciences. Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Prize in 2009.