American included in trio of Nobel Prize in Economics winners

American-Israeli Joel Mokyr, French economist Philippe Aghion and Canadian Peter Howitt were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on the impact of technology on economic growth.

According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Mokyr, 79, received half of the prize—a diploma, a gold medal, and a check for $1.2 million—“for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress.”

The other half of the award went to Aghion, 69, and Howitt, 79, "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction," the Nobel committee added.

Technological boost to growth and "creative destruction"

John Hassler, chairman of the prize committee, told reporters that the trio’s work addresses how technological innovation drives growth and how sustained growth can be maintained.

Mokyr, a professor at Northwestern University in the United States, "used historical sources to uncover how the causes of sustained growth became the new normal," the Nobel committee said in a statement.

Aghion and Howitt examined the concept of "creative destruction, which refers to the process in which "a new and better product enters the market" and "the companies selling the old products lose out."

Call for European governments to invest in research

After receiving the news, Aghion urged European countries to invest in technological innovation. "I think European countries must realize that we cannot allow the United States and China to become technological leaders and lose out to them," he said in a statement to the Nobel committee in Stockholm.

The Nobel Prize in Economics is the only one not among the original five awards established by Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.

The laureates will receive their prizes at official ceremonies to be held in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10.