A Nobel and No Baselines Award

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt, is not just a recognition of academic achievement. It is a no baselines moment, honoring the power of creativity, disruption, and the refusal to accept limits as the driving forces behind human progress.

Their work on innovation and creative destruction reshapes how we understand economic growth. It reveals that prosperity does not emerge from stability; it emerges from bold change, where new ideas and technologies continuously replace outdated systems to improve living standards, health, and opportunity.

The Royal Swedish Academy noted that growth is not humanity’s default state; stagnation is. Sustaining progress requires protecting open inquiry, education, and the freedom to explore new frontiers. Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt’s research reminds us that innovation is not just an engine of economics; it is the foundation of civilization’s evolution.

This year’s prize stands as both a Nobel and a no baselines Award, celebrating those who dare to create, question, and rebuild. It is a recognition that the greatest economic force of all is the human imagination, unleashed without baselines.