|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Western was full of purple pride, welcoming Nobel laureate Peter Howitt back to campus on April 20.
Howitt, MA’69, a past professor in the department of economics in the Faculty of Social Science, was awarded the world’s top prize for economics in December 2025. The prize recognized his work on creative destruction, a theory that describes how innovation fuels economic growth through the rise of new industries and the decline of outdated ones.
He won the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, often known as the Nobel Prize in Economics, along with Joel Mokyr and Philippe Aghion.
Howitt’s visit to campus included a fireside chat with past governor of the Bank of Canada – and one of his former students – Stephen Poloz, MA’79, PhD’82, LLD’19, where the pair discussed artificial intelligence, communicating economic ideas to the public and controlling inflation, among other topics. It followed a day of receptions with current and former faculty, students and university leaders.
“We are deeply honoured to welcome Peter back to Western, where he was first a graduate student and then spent nearly 25 years as a faculty member,” said Western President Alan Shepard. “It’s wonderful to celebrate not only his Nobel Prize, but also the value of knowledge itself, the making of knowledge, the risk-taking that goes with that and the ways universities contribute to the well-being of a democratic society.”
Nobel laureate Peter Howitt’s visit to campus included a fireside chat with former governor of the Bank of Canada Stephen Poloz. (L to R): Stephen Poloz, Peter Howitt and Western President Alan Shepard. (Frank Neufeld)
Howitt is a distinguished Canadian economist who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992. He taught generations of economists at Western between 1972 and 1996, while also holding visiting positions at the University of Paris, the University of Toulouse and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he first met Aghion. He moved to Ohio State University in 1996 and then joined Brown University in 2000, before retiring in 2013.
“We are especially proud that much of Peter’s pioneering research was developed here at Western,” said Nick Harney, dean of the Faculty of Social Science. “His model of creative destruction – showing how new ideas, technologies and industries replace outdated ones – has become foundational to our understanding of economic progress and rising living standards. His legacy lives on through the generations of economists he mentored and inspired.”
Howitt’s message to students: The future is bright
Howitt’s campus visit also included a reception with current and former graduate students.
“It’s exciting to see the human potential in front of me right here at Western. The future is so bright for people your age,” Howitt told the students. But he also acknowledged the uncertainty and rapid change of today’s world.
“The future looks scary sometimes. New technologies emerge and we worry about the impact on the job market, but so far, new technologies – although disruptive – have also created more interesting jobs for people, things that were unimagined in the past.”
In conversation with Poloz at his evening event, which drew a crowd of more than 400, Howitt said today’s economists will need to master AI, calling it a “tremendous research assistant.” He cautioned that students must learn, however, to use it thoughtfully and verify all information.
Western economics graduate Jing Lu, MA’88, PhD’93, with her former PhD supervisor Nobel laureate Peter Howitt, MA’69. (Frank Neufeld)
One of Howitt’s former graduate students, Jing Lu, MA’89, PhD’93, travelled from New York, eager to reconnect with the Nobel laureate, who was also her PhD supervisor.
“I remember feeling so lucky when he agreed to be my supervisor, because he was very selective in who he took on,” said Lu, who today is the CFO of Bowen Acquisition. “He was very supportive and when I grew restless and wanted to pursue other research ideas, he would tell me I was on track and to stick to the plan.”
When Lu, who previously was a professor of economics at York University, considered a job at The World Bank early in her career, Howitt steered her toward academia.
“He told me that when you’re an academic, you never stop learning. You can further your career, further your education and satisfy your curiosity,” Lu said.
Joining ‘great atmosphere’ in Western economics
Howitt returned to Western in 1972 as an assistant professor, three years after earning his master’s. He recalled the enthusiasm and growth of the economics department, working amongst “rock stars” including David Laidler, Clark Leith and Michael Parkin, now professors emeritus.
“It was an exciting place, where a lot of us were interested in the same things,” he said. “We learned so much from each other. It was just a great atmosphere with lots of possibilities.”
Howitt was the inaugural Bank of Montreal Professor from 1990 to1995, a role established with a gift from the bank during Western’s $89-million Renaissance campaign. The work for which Howitt was awarded the Nobel Prize was published in 1992 while he held the professorship.
“Western is where I cut my teeth as an economist, where I learned what it takes to write decent papers, and where I did the work that earned the prize.” – Nobel laureate Peter Howitt, MA’69
The publication recognized by the Nobel committee, in which Aghion and Howitt developed a mathematical model for creative destruction, has been cited more than 17,000 times.
Receiving the most prestigious honour in economics “wasn’t just a prize, it was quite a surprise,” Howitt said, recalling the 6:15 a.m. phone call his wife, Pat, received from an enterprising Swedish reporter desperate to track Howitt down.
The couple’s life since “has been a whirlwind,” said Howitt, an in-demand speaker sought by global audiences eager to hear his thoughts on economic growth. He recently spent eight days in China and will return to Asia in a month, where he will speak in Taiwan and South Korea.
It’s a life he never could have imagined, growing up in Guelph, Ont.
Nobel laureate Peter Howitt (right) and his wife Pat in front of a banner in the Faculty of Social Science marking his Nobel Prize in Economics. (Frank Neufeld)
From rebellious teen to Nobel laureate
Howitt’s interest in economics was sparked after testing the limits of his parents as a teenager.
“He was a bit of a troublemaker,” said Pat. “So, his parents asked one of their friends if they would employ him after school and on weekends to keep him busy.”
While working for Carl Winger, a wool broker, Howitt became intrigued watching the fluctuating global prices reported on Winger’s teletype machine. Once his employer explained the concept of supply and demand, Howitt was hooked.
He majored in economics and political science at McGill before coming to Western to pursue his master’s degree, then went on to earn his PhD from Northwestern.
“I was really excited about economics, even before I knew where I was going to end up. I got inspired by the courses Joel Fried taught in monetary economics and interested in work by Bob Clower at Northwestern. Joel was nice enough to go out of his way to make sure I got an introduction and I got into the graduate program at Northwestern. That’s what a good department does. It brings people together and they help each other out.”
Howitt said he is grateful for the opportunities his Western experience afforded him throughout his career, capped with receiving the Nobel Prize.
Travelling to Stockholm, Sweden, with his seven grandchildren (aged six to 27) to receive the award is a highlight he’ll never forget. He joked that the reception of Nobel laureates helped him understand “what Mick Jagger feels like.”
Besides sharing the honour with his family, Howitt said earning the prize has given him the delightful and unexpected opportunity to catch up with former colleagues, students and friends.
“One of the greatest things has been reconnecting with so many people I otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to stay in touch with,” he said.
Reflecting on the relationships he formed here, and the role Western played on own career path during the conversation with Poloz, Howitt pointed to curiosity as one of the most important traits students can develop.
“Be willing to pursue an interesting question worth answering,” Howitt told the crowd. “It’s been my MO throughout my career.”
Learn more about how Western is turning curiosity into solutions.
