The Donald Trump administration had, predictably, focused on the Nobel Peace Prize. However, its most insightful officials should also pay attention to Nobel Prize in Economicsawarded to October 13. This year’s award, without intending to, illuminates its deepening dysfunctions American economyproblems that were accumulating long before his appearance MAGA and which, if not addressed, will undermine any plan “Make America Great Again».

OR Academy honor three economists for their research on long-term growth factors. Half the prize was awarded to Joel Mokir for his work on how a culture of innovation favored the economic take-off of Northern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The other half was shared by Philip Agyon and Peter Howittfor their contribution to understanding the role of creative destruction as a driver of development.

America as an example and as a warning

No country better embodies these two ideas than the United States. Immigrant settlers brought to New Epirus the culture of growth and innovation of northern Europe, along with the spirit of ingenuity. From him George Washington and him Benjamin Franklin up to Thomas Jefferson, the American political elite consisted of people who experimented and created. THE Abraham Lincoln he even patented a device to help ships navigate in shallow water, an idea that betrays the same spirit of practical ingenuity.

The need for survival made practical knowledge almost a sacred duty. As one of his heroes says Mark Twain in “A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”: “I could make anything anyone wanted and if there wasn’t a way, I would invent one». The country reinforced this culture by establishing universities of agricultural and technical applications and the most liberal patent regime in the world. Between 1875 and 1926, almost half of the world’s major technological innovations came from the US.

On the other hand, America has been the model of creative destruction. THE Joseph Subeter had pointed out that two elements are needed: self-centered entrepreneurs and societies willing to be shaken. The Rockefeller and Carnegie they built empires of unprecedented scale, in a new, fluid country, with vast horizons.

From creation to inaction

Many of these features survive. American universities remain a source of hands-on innovation, and tech giants resemble 19th-century “robber barons.” However, the culture of free thought that Mokyr describes is under threat as never before.

The blame does not lie solely with the Trump administration. For decades, the American left has promoted postmodern ideas that challenge rationality, while a culture of nullification limits dissent in universities. And the right intensifies the crisis, simultaneously launching a campaign against universities and a war on highly skilled immigration.

Repressing universities threatens the cornerstone of their success: academic independence. German schools were once the best in the world, only to be destroyed by politicization after 1914 and even more so after 1933. At the same time, restrictions on H-1B visas discourage scientists and innovators from around the world.

The weakening of creative destruction

America’s business dynamism is also declining. As the professor points out Carl Benedict Frey in his new book “How Progress Ends”corporate concentration has increased dramatically: three-quarters of industries are now more oligopolistic than they were in the 1990s. Silicon Valley they either acquire the start-ups, or displace them. Non-compete clauses limit worker mobility, stifling the spirit of innovation.

During the Gilded Age, America responded with antitrust laws and pressure from below. Today, however, no similar mobilization is visible. Big companies have strengthened their power through lobbying, while competition authorities rarely even enforce existing laws. Society is too polarized to agree on something as “technical” as a new antitrust policy.

At the same time, the wider culture turns against risk-taking. A people that once crossed oceans and continents in search of opportunity seems today trapped in overprotection and bureaucracy. Universities warn of “picturesque fishing scenes” in the Old Man and the Hemingway Sea, while every hot drink is labeled as… hot.

Even if the pioneering spirit survives, is it worth it? By 2000, most Americans believed their children would live better. Today, that optimism has been shattered. Why endure “destruction” if “creation” never comes?

Historical lessons

The history of the American economy is full of twists and turns. In the 1980s, many believed that Japan would take the lead, followed by China. But they also suffer from similar pathologies: Corporate concentration, politicization of decisions and inertia in competition.

The work of economists like Mokyr, as well as Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson and Ben Bernanke, often honored by the Academy, leads to two clear conclusions:

Progress is not a given, it requires the right economic and cultural conditions.

No superpower in history, from Song Dynasty China to 19th-century Britain, has managed to avoid gradual decline.

America is no exception. Whether he will realize it in time is the real question behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics.