Author information:
Balázs Égert https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9540-4205: OECD Economics Department, Senior Economist; EconomiX at Paris Nanterre University, Fellow; CESifo, Fellow. E-mail: balazs.egert@oecd.org
Abstract:
This paper reviews the contributions of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics laureates, Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, to our understanding of innovation-driven economic growth, situating their work within the broader evolution of modern growth theory and empirical evidence. It highlights why the Industrial Revolution marked a transition to sustained, self-reinforcing technological progress and shows how Mokyr’s emphasis on knowledge, culture and institutions complements Aghion and Howitt’s Schumpeterian framework, which formalises innovation as a competitive process of firm entry, exit and technological replacement. The paper then uses these frameworks to interpret the widespread productivity slowdown observed in advanced OECD economies since the mid-2000s, arguing that weakened creative destruction, slower diffusion of frontier technologies, declining business dynamism and policy headwinds are key explanatory factors.
Cite as (APA):
Égert, B. (2026). Spinning Jennies and Silicon: The Economics of Innovating or Evaporating – Creative Destruction and Public Policies. Financial and Economic Review, 25(1), 100–130. https://doi.org/10.33893/FER.25.1.100
Column:
Essay
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes:
O30, O40, O43, L16, N10
Keywords:
innovation, productivity, economic growth, creative destruction, institutions
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