Joel Mokyr at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. File photo by Karen Zhou, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2025Nobel Prizes
The Israeli-American economic historian Joel Mokyr shares the Nobel Prize in Economics.
The prize announced on 13 October 2025 honours his work on how innovation drives lasting growth. He is also a visiting lecturer at Tel Aviv University.
The story in numbers.
12
share of the prize
SourceNobelPrize.org
11million kronor
prize amount, shared by three laureates
SourceNobelPrize.org
≈2%
yearly growth that doubles lifetime income
SourceNobelPrize.org
Here is how it happened.
1946 to 1974
Joel Mokyr is born in Leiden and earns his doctorate at Yale.
He is born on 26 July 1946 in the Netherlands. He receives his PhD from Yale University in 1974.
SourceNobelPrize.org
1974
He begins teaching at Northwestern University.
He is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996. He has also served as president of the Economic History Association.
SourceTel Aviv University
The 1990s
Mokyr uses historical sources to uncover the causes of sustained growth.
He demonstrates that innovations can succeed one another in a self-generating process only if there are scientific explanations for why they work. He also stresses that society must be open to new ideas and allow change.
SourceNobelPrize.org
A Boulton and Watt steam engine of 1785 in a museum. File photo by David Maciulaitis from Auckland, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
His main idea
Mokyr shows that useful knowledge has two parts.
Propositional knowledge describes why something works, and prescriptive knowledge gives the instructions for making it work. The steam engine, for example, improved thanks to insights into atmospheric pressure and vacuums.
SourceNobelPrize.org
13 October 2025
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards him half of the economics prize for explaining innovation-driven growth.
The other half goes jointly to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. Mokyr is listed with Northwestern University and Tel Aviv University's Eitan Berglas School of Economics.
SourceNobelPrize.org
1 July 2026
Tel Aviv University dedicates a student plaza in his honor.
During a three-day visit he gives a public lecture on what drives economic growth. Former high school classmates gather on campus for a reunion.
SourceTel Aviv University
1 of 6
Here is why it matters.
Mokyr shows that lasting growth needs both practical know-how and scientific explanations for why things work. He also stresses that a society must be open to new ideas and allow change.
Three more milestones to read next.
Joshua Angrist in 2011. File photo by MeJudice, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2021
Joshua Angrist, an Israeli-American economist, shares the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Read the story
Robert Aumann. File photo by Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons.
2005
Hebrew University's Robert Aumann wins the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Read the story
Daniel Kahneman. File photo by nrkbeta, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2002
Tel Aviv-born Daniel Kahneman wins the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Read the story
Where each fact was read.
Sources read on 1 November 2026.