Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism

by Mariana Mazzucato

Overview

Longlisted for the 2021 Porchlight Business Book Awards, Big Ideas & New Perspectives

“She offers something both broad and scarce: a compelling new story about how to create a desirable future.”—New York Times

 An award-winning author and leading international economist delivers a hard-hitting and much needed critique of modern capitalism in which she argues that, to solve the massive crises facing us, we must be innovative—we must use collaborative, mission-oriented thinking while also bringing a stakeholder view of public private partnerships which means not only taking risks together but also sharing the rewards. 

Capitalism is in crisis. The rich have gotten richer—the 1 percent, those with more than $1 million, own 44 percent of the world's wealth—while climate change is transforming—and in some cases wiping out—life on the planet. We are plagued by crises threatening our lives, and this situation is unsustainable. But how do we fix these problems decades in the making? 

Mission Economy looks at the grand challenges facing us in a radically new way. Global warming, pollution, dementia, obesity, gun violence, mobility—these environmental, health, and social dilemmas are huge, complex, and have no simple solutions. Mariana Mazzucato argues we need to think bigger and mobilize our resources in a way that is as bold as inspirational as the moon landing—this time to the most ‘wicked’ social problems of our time.. We can only begin to find answers if we fundamentally restructure capitalism to make it inclusive, sustainable, and driven by innovation that tackles concrete problems from the digital divide, to health pandemics, to our polluted cities. That means changing government tools and culture, creating new markers of corporate governance, and ensuring that corporations, society, and the government coalesce to share a common goal.

We did it to go to the moon. We can do it again to fix our problems and improve the lives of every one of us. We simply can no longer afford not to. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063046269
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/23/2021
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	279,319
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). She is the winner of international prizes including the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought and the 2020 John von Neumann Award. Her award winning books include The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (2013) and The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018). She advises global policy makers and is Chair of the World Health Organization’s Council on the Economics of Health for All and a member of the UN’s High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs. 

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Preface xix

Part I A mission grounded 1

What stands in the way of the next moonshot

1 The Mission and Purpose 3

2 Capitalism in Crisis 11

Finance is financing FIRE 15

Business is focusing on quarterly returns 16

The planet is warming 19

Governments are tinkering, not leading 20

3 Bad Theory, Bad Practice: Five Myths that Impede Progress 26

Myth 1: Businesses create value and take risks; governments only de-risk and facilitate 27

Myth 2: The purpose of government is to fix market failures 30

Myth 3: Government needs to run like a business 35

Myth 4: Outsourcing saves taxpayer money and lowers risk 37

Myth 5: Governments shouldn't pick winners 49

Part II A mission possible 57

What it takes to achieve our boldest ambitions

4 Lessons from Apollo: A Moonshot Guide to Change 59

Leadership: vision and purpose 61

Innovation: risk-taking and experimentation 64

Organizational change: agility and flexibility 68

Spillovers: serendipity and collaboration 77

Finance: outcomes-based budgeting 88

Business and the state: partnership with a common purpose 93

Part III Missions in action 103

What grand challenges we should tackle today

5 Aiming Higher: Mission-oriented Policies on Earth 105

Sustainable Development Goals and a green transition 109

Selecting a mission 121

Implementing a mission 124

Engaging citizens in a mission 130

Mission: a Green New Deal 137

Mission: innovating for accessible health 146

Mission: narrowing the digital divide 153

Part IV The next mission 161

Reimagining the economy and our future

6 Good Theory, Good Practice: Seven Principles for a New Political Economy 163

Value: collectively created 168

Markets: shaping not fixing 171

Organizations: dynamic capabilities 174

Finance: outcomes-based budgeting 181

Distribution: sharing risks and rewards 189

Partnership: purpose and stakeholder value 193

Participation: open systems to co-design our future 199

7 Conclusion: Changing Capitalism 204

Notes 213

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

02/08/2021

Economist Mazzucato (The Value of Everything) calls for a “massive rethink” of capitalism and the relationship between the public and private sectors in this stimulating yet wonky guide. She contends that wealth inequality, inadequate health care, the “rising tide of populism,” and other social ills are the byproducts of forces that have warped capitalism, including the prioritization of shareholder profits over long-term investments and the belief that governments can only fix market failures, instead of playing an active role in shaping the economy. Mazzucato sketches the history of the U.S. space program in the 1960s as a model for the “boldness and experimentation” necessary to solve the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, and refutes arguments that the private sector is inherently better at spurring innovation than the public sector. She notes, for example, that an Obama administration loan was crucial to the success of Tesla, and that a 1980s BBC computer literacy program led to the founding of a leading software development firm and the creation of a low-cost computer used in classrooms around the world. Mazzucato’s line of argument occasionally gets lost in a blizzard of buzzwords, but she unearths a plethora of intriguing case studies to back up her claims. Policy makers will want to take note. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Mazzucato wants liberals to talk less about the redistribution of wealth and more about its creation. Politicians around the world are listening." — New York Times

"Stimulating . . . [Mazzucato] unearths a plethora of intriguing case studies to back up her claims. Policy makers will want to take note." — Publishers Weekly

"One of the world’s most influential economists is on a mission to save  capitalism from itself." — Quartz

"The debates Mazzucato has been trying to open for years are now unavoidable. So let’s have them." — Ezra Klein

"I believe [her vision] can help to think about the future."
— Pope Francis, from an open letter to Judge Roberto Andrés Gallardo, president of the Pan-American Committee of Men and Women Judges for Social Rights

"Mazzucato has influenced the way American politicians speak about the state’s potential as an economic engine." — New York Times

"The world’s scariest economist. . . . Mariana Mazzucato is a name to strike fear in the heart of anyone slightly shaky in their masculinity or grasp of the figures." — Times (UK)

"She is as forthright in her opinions as she is eloquent in expressing them." — Financial Times

"Mariana Mazzucato is foremost among the flamethrowers. A professor at University College London and the founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, she asks fundamental questions about how 'value' has been defined, who decides what that means, and who gets to measure it." — Forbes

"One of the three most important thinkers about innovation." — New Republic

"This economist has a plan to fix capitalism. It’s time we all listened." — Wired

“She offers something both broad and scarce: a compelling new story about how to create a desirable future.” — New York Times

From the Publisher

"One of the three most important thinkers about innovation."

New Republic

"One of the world’s most influential economists is on a mission to save  capitalism from itself."

Quartz

"The debates Mazzucato has been trying to open for years are now unavoidable. So let’s have them."

Ezra Klein

"She is as forthright in her opinions as she is eloquent in expressing them."

Financial Times

"I believe [her vision] can help to think about the future."

Pope Francis

"Mariana Mazzucato is foremost among the flamethrowers. A professor at University College London and the founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, she asks fundamental questions about how 'value' has been defined, who decides what that means, and who gets to measure it."

Forbes

"Mazzucato wants liberals to talk less about the redistribution of wealth and more about its creation. Politicians around the world are listening."

New York Times

"The world’s scariest economist. . . . Mariana Mazzucato is a name to strike fear in the heart of anyone slightly shaky in their masculinity or grasp of the figures."

Times (UK)

"She is as forthright in her opinions as she is eloquent in expressing them."

Financial Times

"This economist has a plan to fix capitalism. It’s time we all listened."

Wired