The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics focuses on how innovation drives economic growth. The winners criticized Trump's tariffs on the spot.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday that Joel Mokyr, Philip Aghion, and Peter Howitt have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics for their research on how innovation and the power of "creative destruction" drive sustained economic growth. Mokyr, aged 79, is currently a professor at Northwestern University in the United States and will receive half of the 11 million Swedish Krona prize money. Aghion, aged 69, holds teaching positions at the College de France in Paris, the European School of Management, and the London School of Economics in the UK. Howitt, aged 79, works at Brown University in the United States. Why does the economy continue to grow? The Nobel Prize committee wrote in their award statement: "The laureates of the 2025 Economics Prize have revealed to us that sustained economic growth is not a given. In the course of human history, economic stagnation rather than growth has been the norm. Their research shows that we must be vigilant and resist those factors that threaten sustained growth... If we cannot address these threats, the mechanism of 'creative destruction' that has brought us sustained growth may grind to a halt - at which point we will have to readjust to economic stagnation." Economic historian Mokyr was awarded for his research on how innovation during the Industrial Revolution and subsequent periods drives sustained economic growth, marking the fourth consecutive year that the Nobel Prize in Economics has had a significant economic history element. Mokyr points out that continuous flow of "useful knowledge" is a necessary condition for driving economic growth. For innovation to continue to occur in a self-generating way, people need to not only know that "something is feasible" but also understand "why it is feasible." This is why new discoveries before the Industrial Revolution were difficult to further develop. Focusing on the impact of technological change, Mokyr indicates that achieving sustained growth requires three prerequisites: first, the co-evolution of science and technology - people must understand why things work; second, the dissemination and improvement of mechanical skills; third, society must maintain an open attitude towards potential disruptive changes. In a paper published in 1992, Aghion and Howitt developed a mathematical model for the so-called "creative destruction": when newer and better products enter the market, companies selling older products suffer losses. This innovation represents the birth of something new, hence it is creative. But at the same time, it is destructive because companies with outdated technology will be phased out of the market. This model has direct implications for economic policy-making, as it can be used to calibrate research and development subsidy policies, and optimize social security systems for workers displaced by technological change. Aghion and Howitt have also co-authored the book "Endogenous Growth Theory." Regarding the significance of the award-winning research, Dr. Hongjie Liu, a digital economy research consultant at the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) Institute of Stanford University, commented: "The research of these laureates reveals that innovation becomes an endogenous force of growth - economic growth is no longer seen as an exogenous miracle, but as a systemic result of institutions, competition, and knowledge accumulation. Institution determines the innovation ecosystem, and competition, education, research investment, and property rights protection collectively shape the sustainability of innovation. From the Industrial Revolution to the AI era, the key to technological change lies in 'letting innovation self-reproduce.'" New Nobel laureates criticize Trump's tariffs As the only scholar among the three laureates who is permanently based in Europe, Aghion was asked at Monday's press conference about the threat of US tariff policies on economic growth. He openly stated his dislike for the protectionist wave in the US, which is not conducive to global economic growth, and also emphasized at the press conference, "Openness is the driver of growth. Any factor that hinders openness will become a stumbling block for growth. Therefore, I see accumulating dark clouds currently pushing trade barriers and closed policies." He also stressed the need to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental protection and promote competition in the field of artificial intelligence. He warned that without careful regulation, "superstar" companies may monopolize the field, hindering the entry of future competitors. This article is reprinted from "Cai Lianshe", authored by Shi Zhengcheng; GMTEight editor: Feng Qiuyi.