Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University in the United States, Philippe Aghion of Collège de France in France, and Peter Howitt of Brown University in the United States, winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in economics, are regarded as scholars who proved the link between technological innovation and economic growth.
Professor Mokyr, focusing on economic history, proved how technology, in consolidation with institutions and culture, actually leads to economic growth. He said that if technological innovation continues, the likelihood of a prolonged stagnation is small. He instead warned that institutional or political conditions could hold back technological progress.
Professors Aghion and Howitt, in their 1992 coauthored paper, "A theory of sustained growth through creative destruction," proved with a mathematical model the link between technological progress and economic growth.
Economic experts said their research proved that technological innovation destroys old technologies and, through this, leads to growth, and that it foresaw today's intensifying cross-border "technological hegemony competition."
Jun Hyun-bae, a professor in the Department of Economics at Sogang University, said, "Professor Mokyr proved through historical cases that no matter how advanced technology is, without institutions and culture to support it, it cannot produce growth effects," adding, "This is in line with the argument by Daron Acemoglu of MIT, who won the Nobel Prize 4th, that 'inclusive institutions are important for a nation's growth and prosperity.'"
Jun added, "It appears the Nobel Committee took note of theoretical research on how rapidly developing new technologies can harmonize within market structures and institutions to lead to economic growth."
Seo Jung-hae, a visiting research fellow at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), said, "Among past Nobel economics laureates, Professor Mokyr may be the first whose main field is economic history," adding, "His research is meaningful in that, from a long-term perspective, it narratively proved how culture, institutions, and the environment affected growth."
Seo, the visiting research fellow, added, "Sometime next month, Princeton University Press is set to publish Professor Mokyr's book titled 'Two paths to prosperity.' Its hallmark is an analysis of Europe's and China's economic development centered on the past 1,000 years of economic history."
Seok Byung-hoon, a professor in the Department of Economics at Ewha Womans University, said, "Professors Aghion and Howitt built a concrete model showing how the creative destruction proposed by Schumpeter contributes to sustained economic growth," adding, "At a time when competition over intellectual property rights and technological expropriation is fierce, it suggests what the state should consider for sustainable growth."
Seok emphasized, "For Korea's sustainable growth, it is critical to maintain an overwhelming technological edge in the core industries of semiconductors and secondary batteries," adding, "If these are not properly protected, corporations and research teams will lose the incentive to invest in research and development, which could ultimately lead to Korea's technological atrophy and low growth."