PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown University Professor Emeritus Peter Howitt has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his groundbreaking work on the “theory of sustained growth through creative destruction.”
Howitt shares the honor with Philippe Aghion of the Collège de France and INSEAD, and Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized the trio for explaining how innovation fuels long-term economic progress while disrupting existing industries.
“This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress,” the Academy said.
Howitt, who joined Brown’s faculty in 2000, said he was stunned by the early morning news. “I didn’t bother to turn my phone on overnight,” he said. “I have no champagne in the refrigerator. So this is all really quite a shock to me.”
Brown President Christina H. Paxson called the recognition a moment of pride for the university. “We are proud and deeply honored that the work of Professor Howitt has received the international recognition of a Nobel Prize,” she said.
Howitt and Aghion’s research introduced a mathematical model for “creative destruction” — the process by which new technologies boost productivity but render older ones obsolete. Their work highlighted how societies that resist innovation risk stagnation.
Howitt is Brown’s third Nobel laureate, joining physicists Leon Cooper (1972) and J. Michael Kosterlitz (2016).
Reflecting on his career, Howitt credited Brown’s open academic culture. “You learn as much from your students and colleagues as you do from your own research,” he said.
Born in Canada, Howitt earned degrees from McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, and Northwestern University. Before joining Brown, he taught at Western Ontario and Ohio State.
John Hassler, chair of the Nobel economics committee, said the laureates’ research underscores a vital lesson: “Economic growth cannot be taken for granted. We must uphold the mechanisms that underlie creative destruction.”
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