Mission Economy: Outcome‑Oriented Public Innovation Policy
book · Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021)
Mariana Mazzucato’s framework for governments to set ambitious, outcome‑oriented missions that coordinate cross‑sectoral innovation, moving beyond fixing market failures to actively creating and shaping markets.
Core Concepts
The Problem
Industrial policy often fails by picking individual winners or sectors without a clear direction; governments lack a framework for setting ambitious, cross‑sectoral missions.
The Claim
Government should set bold, outcome‑oriented missions (like putting a man on the moon) to give direction and stimulate innovation, coordinating public and private investment.
Key Evidence
- •Apollo program’s success and the spinoff technologies it created
- •DARPA’s foundational role in the internet
- •The German Energiewende’s attempt to realign energy systems around mission goals
Practical Implication
Mission‑oriented policy can tackle grand societal challenges while driving economic growth, but requires strong state capacity and democratic participation in choosing missions.
Nuance & Limits
Missions must be chosen democratically and remain adaptable; not every challenge is suitable for a moonshot approach, and implementation can be derailed by capture or lack of institutional capability.
Source Material
Videos
Mariana Mazzucato explains how outcome‑oriented missions can transform capitalism and address grand challenges.
Citation Density
Growing rapidly among policy circles
Gaps
- ⚠ More empirical comparisons between mission‑oriented and traditional industrial policies are needed.
- ⚠ Studies on the scalability of the Apollo model to diffuse societal challenges (like climate adaptation) are limited.
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