2025 Nobel prize for the power of ideas
Oct 2025
Innovation-driven economic growth
We warmly congratulate the newly awarded Nobel laureates Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt. At the UBS Center, we are particularly proud: both Joel Mokyr and Philippe Aghion are long-standing members of our Advisory Board and have shared their research with Zurich audiences through UBS Center Opinions events.
As our Scientific Director Joachim Voth puts it: “Joel Mokyr’s Nobel is a celebration of the power of ideas to change the world. He masterfully shows that our modern prosperity was born from a culture of curiosity and open inquiry – a culture deeply rooted in European ideas, attitudes, and behaviors. This is a profoundly deserved honor for a scholar who taught us the true origins of wealth, contributing to the frontier of economics through his deep understanding of economic history and the history of ideas. We are fortunate to count him as a member of our Advisory Board at the UBS Center for Economics in Society, where he has played a leading role advising the department over the last decade.”
UBS Foundation Professor David Hémous adds on his co-author and long-time collaborator Philippe Aghion: “His work paved the way for analyzing how competition policies, financial market policies, or education policies affect innovation. With his communicative energy, he continues to push the frontier, studying the effects of automation or the possibilities of green growth. This is truly a well-deserved prize. I have been incredibly fortunate to count Philippe as my mentor and to co-author frequently with him. He is a formidable teacher that transmits the passion for research and economics.”
We warmly congratulate the newly awarded Nobel laureates Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt. At the UBS Center, we are particularly proud: both Joel Mokyr and Philippe Aghion are long-standing members of our Advisory Board and have shared their research with Zurich audiences through UBS Center Opinions events.
As our Scientific Director Joachim Voth puts it: “Joel Mokyr’s Nobel is a celebration of the power of ideas to change the world. He masterfully shows that our modern prosperity was born from a culture of curiosity and open inquiry – a culture deeply rooted in European ideas, attitudes, and behaviors. This is a profoundly deserved honor for a scholar who taught us the true origins of wealth, contributing to the frontier of economics through his deep understanding of economic history and the history of ideas. We are fortunate to count him as a member of our Advisory Board at the UBS Center for Economics in Society, where he has played a leading role advising the department over the last decade.”
UBS Foundation Professor David Hémous adds on his co-author and long-time collaborator Philippe Aghion: “His work paved the way for analyzing how competition policies, financial market policies, or education policies affect innovation. With his communicative energy, he continues to push the frontier, studying the effects of automation or the possibilities of green growth. This is truly a well-deserved prize. I have been incredibly fortunate to count Philippe as my mentor and to co-author frequently with him. He is a formidable teacher that transmits the passion for research and economics.”
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. Illustration: Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach
In the media
They show how new technology can drive sustained growth The Nobel Prize press release
UBS Center Opinions
Contact
UBS Foundation Professor of Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
Joachim Voth received his PhD from Oxford in 1996. He works on financial crises, long-run growth, as well as on the origins of political extremism. He has examined public debt dynamics and bank lending to the first serial defaulter in history, analysed risk-taking behaviour by lenders as a result of personal shocks, and the investor performance during speculative bubbles. Joachim has also examined the deep historical roots of anti-Semitism, showing that the same cities where pogroms occurred in the Middle Age also persecuted Jews more in the 1930s; he has analyzed the extent to which schooling can create radical racial stereotypes over the long run, and how dense social networks (“social capital”) facilitated the spread of the Nazi party. In his work on long-run growth, he has investigated the effects of fertility restriction, the role of warfare, and the importance of state capacity. Joachim has published more than 80 academic articles and 3 academic books, 5 trade books and more than 50 newspaper columns, op-eds and book reviews. His research has been highlighted in The Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, El Pais, Vanguardia, La Repubblica, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, NZZ, der Standard, der Spiegel, CNN, RTN, Swiss and German TV and radio.
UBS Foundation Associate Professor of Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
David Hémous received his PhD from Harvard University in 2012. He is a macroeconomist working on economic growth, climate change and inequality. His work highlights that innovation responds to economic incentives and that public policies should be designed taking this dependence into account. In particular, he has shown in the context of climate change policy that innovations in the car industry respond to gas prices and that global and regional climate policies should support clean innovation to efficiently reduce CO2 emissions. His work on technological change and income distribution shows that higher labor costs lead to more automation, and that the recent increase in labor income inequality and in the capital share can be explained by a secular increase in automation. He has also shown that innovation affects top income shares. He was awarded an ERC Starting Grant on 'Automation and Income Distribution – a Quantitative Assessment' and he received the 2022 'European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty'.
UBS Foundation Professor of Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
Joachim Voth received his PhD from Oxford in 1996. He works on financial crises, long-run growth, as well as on the origins of political extremism. He has examined public debt dynamics and bank lending to the first serial defaulter in history, analysed risk-taking behaviour by lenders as a result of personal shocks, and the investor performance during speculative bubbles. Joachim has also examined the deep historical roots of anti-Semitism, showing that the same cities where pogroms occurred in the Middle Age also persecuted Jews more in the 1930s; he has analyzed the extent to which schooling can create radical racial stereotypes over the long run, and how dense social networks (“social capital”) facilitated the spread of the Nazi party. In his work on long-run growth, he has investigated the effects of fertility restriction, the role of warfare, and the importance of state capacity. Joachim has published more than 80 academic articles and 3 academic books, 5 trade books and more than 50 newspaper columns, op-eds and book reviews. His research has been highlighted in The Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, El Pais, Vanguardia, La Repubblica, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, NZZ, der Standard, der Spiegel, CNN, RTN, Swiss and German TV and radio.
UBS Foundation Associate Professor of Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
David Hémous received his PhD from Harvard University in 2012. He is a macroeconomist working on economic growth, climate change and inequality. His work highlights that innovation responds to economic incentives and that public policies should be designed taking this dependence into account. In particular, he has shown in the context of climate change policy that innovations in the car industry respond to gas prices and that global and regional climate policies should support clean innovation to efficiently reduce CO2 emissions. His work on technological change and income distribution shows that higher labor costs lead to more automation, and that the recent increase in labor income inequality and in the capital share can be explained by a secular increase in automation. He has also shown that innovation affects top income shares. He was awarded an ERC Starting Grant on 'Automation and Income Distribution – a Quantitative Assessment' and he received the 2022 'European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty'.