Why Do We Need to Change Our Perspective on the Economy? | Mariana Mazzucato | Summit 2020
Published on 11 September 2020
Publication
Economist Mariana Mazzucato argues that governments should go beyond fixing market failures and actively co-create value with the private sector. She advocates a mission-oriented approach to tackle challenges—like the green transition—by combining public funding, clear conditionalities, and citizen engagement.
In this interview excerpt, Mariana Mazzucato (Professor of Economics at University College London) outlines her vision for mission-oriented innovation policy. Rather than seeing the State as a mere fixer of market failures, she argues for a public sector that shapes growth in a more inclusive and sustainable direction.
Mazzucato emphasizes that economies have not only a rate of growth but also a direction, influenced by public choices (e.g., tax policy, deregulation).
Drawing on historical examples—like the entrepreneurial role of government in Silicon Valley—she shows how active public investment across the entire innovation chain, with conditionalities (e.g., reducing carbon footprint), can spur transformational change.
She illustrates the “moonshot” or mission-oriented approach with goals such as a plastic-free ocean or carbon-neutral cities. Instead of distributing funds randomly, governments can galvanize diverse sectors (public, private, civil society) to propose bottom-up solutions and learn from failure.
Lastly, Mazzucato highlights citizen engagement and social justice (like the “just transition” framework) as essential. Value creation, she says, is co-created by both public institutions and businesses, under shared principles of equitable and effective outcomes.