One of the winners of this year’s Nobel economics prize, France’s Philippe Aghion, on Monday warned Europe that it must not let the United States and China dominate technological innovation.

Aghion shared the Nobel with American-Israeli Joel Mokyr and Canada’s Peter Howitt for work on technology’s impact on sustained economic growth.

“I think European countries have to realise that we should no longer let (the) US and China become technological leaders and lose to them,” Aghion told reporters by phone during a press conference in Stockholm announcing this year’s winners.

He said the wealth gap had widened between the US and the eurozone since the 1980s.

After a period when Europe caught up to the US “in per capita GDP terms between World War II and the mid-80s”, the gap has again widen

See Full Page