Guelph’s Peter Howitt Nobel win ‘a proud moment’ for Ontario universities where he studied and worked

Peter Howitt, one of three people to win this year’s Nobel memorial prize in economics on Monday, is being celebrated by the Canadian universities where he has worked and studied.

Howitt is originally from Guelph, Ont. He did his undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, his Masters work at Western University in London and earned his doctorate at Northwestern University in Illinois.

He worked as an associate professor, then professor, at Western University from 1972 to 1996, where he is still an honorary professor of economics at Western.

Howitt is currently a professor emeritus at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Western University president Alan Shepard said in a statement on Monday that they were “thrilled” to hear Howitt had received the prize.

“His pioneering work has transformed how we think about innovation and economic growth. Much of his work as an economist was conducted at Western,” Shepard said.

“His Nobel win is a powerful reflection of the excellence of Western’s storied economics department, which consistently ranks among the best in the world. This is a proud moment for Western.”

Howitt was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Guelph in 2009.

“Originally from Guelph, Howitt is an accomplished and highly respected macroeconomist,” the university’s media release about the honour says.

“He was the first economist to demonstrate under general theoretical conditions that a central bank aiming to stabilize the rate of inflation must allow interest rates to respond vigorously to past changes in inflation.”

Howitt has also served as president of the Canadian Economics Association from 1993 to 1994 and was editor of the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking from 1997 to 2000.

McGill University celebrated Howitt’s honour, noting “his journey began” at McGill and that his work since “is not only theoretical but has shaped real-world economic policy.”

Howitt won the prize on Monday alongside Joel Mokyr and Philippe Aghion for their research into the impact of innovation on economic growth and how new technologies replace older ones — a key economic concept known as "creative destruction."

In a social media post, Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Howitt for receiving the “extraordinary recognition.”

“Canada is home to many of the world’s brightest minds. With a lifetime of path-breaking research on how innovation and human ingenuity are essential engines of growth, Peter Howitt’s work is a foremost example of Canadian ideas having global impact,” Carney wrote on X, formerly Twitter.