The global economy is in trouble, but the Nobel Prize in Economics is still indulging itself
When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics to Mokyr, Aghion, and Howitt for their "explanation of innovation-driven economic growth," it did not receive unanimous applause from the global economics community, but rather increasingly clear doubts:
This award, known as the "jewel on the crown of social sciences," is gradually degenerating into an intellectual game within a closed circle. Its self-indulgent tendency has become even more glaring against the backdrop of today's global economic difficulties.
Disconnection from reality: a theoretical狂欢 that cannot respond to real issues
The core contribution of the 2025 Nobel laureates is summarized as "revealing how innovation drives sustained growth." However, this seemingly profound interpretation actually avoids the most urgent practical issues facing the global economy today.
Mokyr's emphasis on "scientific explanation and social openness as prerequisites for technological progress" is merely a repetitive summary of the history of the Industrial Revolution — when artificial intelligence has already triggered the collapse of the employment structure, and green transition has encountered technical bottlenecks, discussing "why Britain achieved sustained growth in the 18th century" seems more like a nostalgic lecture in a history class, rather than a response to current dilemmas.
Aghion and Howitt's "creative destruction" model also exposes the disconnection between theory and reality. They have built a mathematical model that perfectly demonstrates the abstract logic of "new companies replacing old ones," but they ignore the phenomenon of "destructive stagnation" in the contemporary era: globally, tech giants hinder innovation through patent barriers, and financial capital engages in speculative arbitrage detached from the real economy. These realities that contradict the "creative destruction" principle are not addressed in the theoretical framework recognized by the Nobel Prize committee.
When developing countries face technological bottlenecks and developed countries fall into growth stagnation, the Nobel Prize jury is still celebrating theoretical frameworks that had already emerged half a century ago. This collective avoidance of real issues is a typical example of self-indulgence.
More ironically, the chairman of the Nobel Committee, Hassler, claimed that the winners "reminded us to avoid falling into stagnation," but this theory cannot explain the growth paradox behind America's $35 trillion debt, nor can it address China's development miracle of lifting 800 million people out of poverty through a non-Western model. It also fails to recognize the great successful practices and experiences of China, the largest innovation application scenario in the world today. When a theoretical system loses the basic ability to explain reality, yet still receives the highest honor in economics, it shows that the criteria for the Nobel Prize in Economics have seriously deviated from the mission of the discipline.
(By Zhou Wen, Professor at Fudan University)
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845880760109123/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.