The Trump administration has been fixated, predictably enough, on the Nobel Peace Prize. But his more far-sighted officials would be wise to pay some attention to the Economics Prize, which was awarded on Oct. 13.
For this year’s award inadvertently illuminates growing problems in the U.S. economy: problems that began accumulating long before MAGA materialized but will doom the administration’s plan to make America great again.
The Nobel committee awarded the prize to three economists for their research on what creates long-term growth: Half the prize money went to Joel Mokyr for his work on how a culture of innovation fostered economic take-off in Northern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries; the other half went to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for their insights about creative destruction’s role in driving sustained success.
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