Even before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, capitalism was stuck. It had no answers to a host of problems, including disease, inequality, the digital divide and, perhaps most blatantly, the environmental crisis.
Mariana Mazzucato, 'one of the most influential economists in the world' (Wired) calls for new levels of boldness and experimentation to be applied to the biggest problems of our time. Her new book Mission Economy takes
inspiration from the 'moonshot' programmes which successfully co-ordinated public and private sectors on a massive scale, and argues that government has the ability to energise the economy and society, and build a renewed sense of public purpose.
Her ideas are already being adopted around the world and she was recently cited by Pope Francis for offering a vision of economics that goes beyond profit to include social equity and environmental sustainability as equally valuable.
Mariana Mazzucato talks to Gillian Tett of the Financial Times at a moment of great challenges and opportunity for the world
Professor Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) holds the Chair in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), and is Founder and Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP).
She was named as one of the ‘3 most important thinkers about innovation‘ by the New Republic and one of the 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism by Wired.
Her previous, highly-acclaimed, books are The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013), The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018).
Gillian Tett is chair of the editorial board and editor-at-large, US of the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. In 2014, she was named Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards and was the first recipient of the Royal Anthropological Institute Marsh Award. In June 2009 her book Fool’s Gold won Financial Book of the Year at the inaugural Spear’s Book Awards.