Embracing Change: A Prerequisite for Sustained Economic Growth

The 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences (aka the Nobel Prize in Economics) was awarded to Professors Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their explanation of “innovation-driven economic growth”. Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt built a mathematical model that explains the process of sustained economic growth based on the idea of creative destruction (originally attributed to Schumpeter). A new product or process that is an improvement over an existing one enters the market, destroying the hold of existing products and creating value in the process.

Economic historian Joel Mokyr’s contribution is the identification of prerequisites needed for sustained growth. He explains this as a combination of prescriptive knowledge (a recipe or a checklist of instructions) and propositional knowledge (understanding why something works). Understanding the ‘what’ to do and the ‘why’ to do it are both required for sustained growth. A third factor highlighted in Mokyr’s work is a willingness to change. Innovation falters when established interests block new ideas. Growth endures when our institutional framework prevents vested interests from halting the new.

These insights resonate deeply with the work we do as educators. How do we ensure that all our students travel this path of curiosity, challenge, discovery, and new learning? How do we ensure that our learning goes beyond creating a checklist of skills that our students create for their degree or major? This kind of learning is essential not only in the liberal arts and humanities, but across business, technology, science, and the professions to support sustained innovation and growth. This is the kind of learning that a strong general education curriculum can lead to. History, as reflected in the work of the 2025 Nobel laureates, reminds us that sustained economic growth depends on a general education that cultivates continuous curiosity and a commitment to lifelong learning.

That is why I am especially pleased that an ad hoc committee is being formed under the leadership of the Indianapolis Faculty Council to consider the principles that should guide our general education curriculum at IU Indianapolis. I am grateful to all who have agreed to contribute their time and expertise to this important work.

Interestingly, January is National Mentoring Month and mentors play an important role in our ability to learn and overcome challenges. Whether it is the Bepko Learning Center, faculty mentors like Dr. James Marrs and Dr. Randall Roper, or peer student mentors, mentoring takes many forms at IU Indianapolis. For Kaila Sewer, a First-Year Experience peer mentor, mentoring is about helping students understand that growth and change are part of the college journey. Likewise, as a Graduate School Emissary and mentor in the GradJag Guides program, Tayler B. Smith, a Ph.D. candidate in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the IU School of Medicine, supports first-year graduate students as they transition into a new academic environment. Our thanks to all who make IU Indianapolis a place where innovation thrives and change happens.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor