How Mariana Mazzucato might approach Economics

The very notion of "Economics" as it is often presented – a sterile field of marginal utility, efficient markets, and private sector wizards conjuring wealth from thin air – is, frankly, a dangerous myth. We are taught to admire the sleek, efficient machine of the market, a mechanism seemingly guided by invisible hands. Yet, when we peel back the layers, what do we find? We find a history of *public* endeavor, of the **entrepreneurial state**, deliberately shaping industries and bearing risks that no private entity would countenance.

Consider the very foundations of much of our modern technological marvel. The internet, the GPS, the touchscreen – these are not the spontaneous offspring of venture capital. They are the fruits of decades of directed public funding, of bold missions undertaken by government agencies. The private sector, in its pursuit of **value extraction**, has been all too eager to step in *after* the fundamental risks have been de-risked, to then claim the mantle of innovation. This is not how **value creation** truly happens.

True economic progress, the kind that tackles grand societal challenges and generates genuine **public value**, requires a radical rethinking of our economic framework. We need to move beyond simply admiring what the market *produces* and interrogate how its very *shape* is determined. This involves a **mission-oriented innovation** approach, where the state proactively sets ambitious goals – like the moon landing – and marshals the resources and capabilities to achieve them, creating new markets and new forms of value in the process. To understand economics, we must first understand the **risk-taking state** and its indispensable role in fostering a dynamic and equitable economy.

Imagined perspective — an AI synthesis grounded in Mariana Mazzucato’s recorded ideas and methods, not a quotation or a statement they actually made.