Five Economic Lessons From a Nobel Winner This Year

I studied economics at the University of Edinburgh, which meant reading a lot about the economic history of Northern Britain — and that, in turn, meant reading a lot of Joel Mokyr, who is one of three economists who won the Nobel prize on Monday. Later on, as I embarked on my career as an economist, I got to know him personally, and his newer research continues to shape my understanding of growth.

Whenever I feel uncertain about the future of the economy, I turn to Mokyr. His work is the foundation of my understanding of why some economies thrive, some stagnate and others decline. It offers both hope and a warning to countries navigating the current economic uncertainty, and sheds some light on big questions about the effect of artificial intelligence and the viability of the Chinese model. As an admirer of his work and in honor of his Nobel, I thought I would offer the five most important lessons of Joel Mokyr.