Mariana Mazzucato on the mission economy

Here is a brief quote from Mariana Mazzucato’s latest book, which neatly sums up her main arguments. She wants policymakers to reform capitalism by establishing stronger and more participatory state-led innovation, drawing lessons from the ‘mission’ that resulted in the first moon landing, and led to a whole host of spin-off technologies in the years that followed.

“Mission-oriented thinking cannot be based on the status quo. The mission attitude is not about picking individual sectors to support but about identifying problems that can catalyse collaboration between many different sectors. It is not about handing out money to firms because they are small or because they are in need, but structuring policies that can crowd in different solutions (projects) by multiple types of organizations. It is not about fixing markets but creating markets. It is not about de-risking but sharing risks. It is not about picking winners but picking the willing. And it is not simply about setting the ‘rules of the game’ but about changing the game itself so that a new direction can foster change – change towards a green transition and/or the digitalization of the population.”

Mariana Mazzucato (2021), Mission Economy – A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Allen Lane, p.159.