Brown University economics professor Peter Howitt wins Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Brown University Professor Emeritus Peter Howitt the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction."

Howitt is a professor emeritus of economics at Brown, where he joined the faculty in 2000. He shares one half of the Nobel Prize with Philippe Aghion of the Collège de France and INSEAD in Paris and the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom; the other half was awarded to Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University.

"Over the last two centuries, for the first time in history, the world has seen sustained economic growth," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences stated in its news release. "This has lifted vast numbers of people out of poverty and laid the foundation of our prosperity. This year's laureates in economic sciences, Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, explain how innovation provides the impe­tus for further progress."

Brown University President Christina H. Paxson congratulated Howitt for being recognized with the world's highest prize for economics.

"We are proud and deeply honored that the work of Professor Howitt, one of our esteemed faculty, has received the international recognition of a Nobel Prize," Paxson said. "At a time when the role of research in sparking innovation in new technologies is so prominent in discussions about our changing society, I'm sure that people around the world will appreciate learning more about Professor Howitt's work, along with the contributions of the other prize winners."

Howitt was not immediately reachable for comment.

Howitt and Aghion studied the mechanisms behind sustained growth. In an article from 1992, they constructed a mathematical model for what is called creative destruction: when a new and better product enters the market, the companies selling the older products lose out. The innovation represents something new and is thus creative. However, it is also destructive, as the company whose technology becomes passé is outcompeted.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that in different ways, the laureates show how creative destruction creates conflicts that must be managed in a constructive manner. Otherwise, innovation will be blocked by established companies and interest groups that risk being put at a disadvantage.

"The laureates' work shows that economic growth cannot be taken for granted," says John Hassler, chair of the committee for the prize in economic sciences. "We must uphold the mechanisms that [underlie] creative destruction, so that we do not fall back into stagnation."

Howitt, who was born in Canada, earned a bachelor's degree in economics at McGill University in 1968, and a master's in economics the following year at the University of Western Ontario, before moving to the United States to complete a Ph.D. at Northwestern University. From 1972 to 1996 he taught at the University of Western Ontario, combining his work there with visiting positions at Laval University in Quebec, as well as in France, at Paris and Toulouse universities, and in the U.S. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1996, Howitt moved to Ohio State University, before joining the faculty at Brown University in 2000. He has held editorial positions with many leading economics journals and been granted multiple honorary doctorates.