Northwestern professor shares Nobel Prize in Economics

A Northwestern University professor has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his historical studies on sustained economic growth through technological progress.

Joel Mokyr, who has taught economics and history at Northwestern for more than a half century, was lauded by the Nobel committee Monday for demonstrating how innovations become a “self-generating process,” building upon previous advances to improve standards of living.

“I study economies in the past and try to figure out what makes them prosper, what makes them do well, how population grows, what kind of relations there are between workers and employers,” Mokyr told the Tribune. “I use, basically, economics to study history.”

He shares the award with Philippe Aghion of Collège de France and the London School of