School News

The global economic history community is celebrating a remarkable achievement — and here at the Centre for Quantitative History (CQH), we share in that pride as we honour Professor Joel Mokyr’s 2025 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences alongside Professors Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, in recognition of their ground‑breaking work on innovation‑driven economic growth. It is also worth noting that the Prize has been granted to economic historians for four consecutive years since 2022.

“Professor Mokyr is one of the most influential scholars in the field of economic history,” said Professor Zhiwu Chen, Director of the Centre for Quantitative History. “For decades, his work has shown that technological change is the most important driver of progress since the Industrial Revolution. For our community, which is dedicated to promoting quantitative history research, this is wonderful news — it reaffirms that historical research is vital for understanding today’s complex world, whether you are a policymaker or an ordinary citizen.”

Professor Mokyr has served on our Advisory Board since the Centre’s establishment in 2023. His long standing connection with the QH community began in 2015, when we invited him to lecture at the third Annual Quantitative History Summer School and International Symposium. The transcript of his lectures was later translated into Chinese and published in Quantitative Historical Research (Volumes 3 and 4) 《量化歷史研究（第三、四合輯）》 in April 2018.

Last December, at Hong Kong University, Professor Mokyr delivered a keynote speech at the Eighth Asian Historical Economics Conference (AHEC) on The Great Reversal and the Industrial Revolution. Our Associate Director, Professor Chicheng Ma, had the honour of chairing the keynote session and later reflected: “It was a privilege to introduce Professor Mokyr and to witness first-hand the depth of insight he brings to the study of economic history. His ideas greatly inspired the next generation of scholars at our Centre and beyond.”

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Mokyr on this extraordinary achievement, and take pride in the inspiration he continues to bring to our QH community.