This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics went to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their work on innovation-driven growth and the theory of creative destruction.

Their research explains how innovation has fueled 200 years of prosperity, but also why growth is not guaranteed. In his remarks after the award, Philippe Aghion pointed to three risks that could stall progress:

  • Closed markets that block competition
  • Failure to steer innovation toward green technologies
  • Concentration of AI power in a handful of firms

These challenges echo today’s debates about AI — from “doomers” fearing existential risks to accelerationists pushing rapid adoption. The real test may not be whether AI destroys humanity, but whether our institutions and policies can adapt fast enough to manage disruption.

Curious to hear this community’s thoughts: Are we prepared to govern the next wave of creative destruction wisely?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulocarvao/2025/10/13/what-this-years-nobel-prize-teaches-about-innovation-and-ai-risk/

3 Comments

  1. BubblyOption7980 on

    The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics went to Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt for their work on innovation-driven growth and creative destruction. Philippe Aghion cautioned that the drivers of prosperity for the last 200 years may falter if markets close, if green innovation lags, or if AI power concentrates in a few firms. This raises a future-focused question: how can societies redesign institutions to keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies like AI while preventing inequality and instability? Will governments, markets, and research institutions adapt fast enough to govern the next wave of creative destruction wisely?

  2. There’s no Nobel Prize in Economics.

    It’s a made up price by bank in the name of Alfred Nobel, to which his family and members of the Nobel Foundation do not agree with.

  3. It’s not the era of AI, it’s still the era of stupid CEOs and billionaires finding out the new toy to seize power, money and create wealth inequality while firing people and setting the planet on fire.