Canadian Economist Peter Howitt Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

**Canadian Economist Peter Howitt Wins Nobel Prize in Economics** Canadian economist Peter Howitt has been awarded the Nobel memorial prize in economics for 2025. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the honor on Monday. Howitt shares the prize with Dutch economist Joel Mokyr and French economist Philippe Aghion. They were recognized for their work in explaining innovation-driven economic growth. Howitt expressed his excitement upon learning of the award. "It’s just the dream of a lifetime come true," he said. He discovered the news through a persistent Swedish reporter who called his wife early in the morning, before the official announcement reached him. By the time he received the formal notification, he was already aware of the honor. "I’m going to be spending the day answering phone calls," Howitt remarked. He humorously noted, "We didn’t have any champagne in the fridge in anticipation of this." Howitt and Aghion have collaborated for about 30 years, focusing on the concept of creative destruction in economics. This concept describes how new innovations can replace and render older technologies and businesses obsolete. They explored the mechanisms behind sustained economic growth in a 1992 article where they developed a mathematical model for creative destruction. At 79 years old, Howitt holds a bachelor's degree in economics from McGill University in Montreal and a master's degree from the University of Western Ontario in London. He currently serves as a professor of social sciences at Brown University in Rhode Island. Howitt will share half of the prize, which amounts to nearly 1.6 million Canadian dollars, with Aghion. The remaining portion of the prize will go to Mokyr. Howitt looks forward to celebrating this achievement with Aghion and their families, stating, "We have children all around North America, and we look forward to going to Sweden together."