Peter Howitt

Peter Wilkinson Howitt (born May 31, 1946) is a Canadian economist and the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences Emeritus at Brown University. He is best known for his collaborative work with Philippe Aghion on endogenous growth theory, the concept of creative destruction in modern macroeconomics and the Aghion–Howitt model. In 2025, Howitt and Aghion were jointly awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction." He earned his BA in economics from McGill University in 1968, his MA from the University of Western Ontario in 1969, and his PhD from Northwestern University in 1973 under Robert W. Clower.

Academic career Howitt returned to Canada after receiving his PhD and taught at the University of Western Ontario from 1972 to 1996.

He served as president of the Canadian Economics Association in 1993–1994 and was the editor of the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking in the period 1997–2000. In 2019, he and Aghion received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management. Howitt and Aghion were also awarded half of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2025 "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction", the other half going to Joel Mokyr.