Policy Impact
Policy impact
Mariana Mazzucato’s work on the relationship between innovation and the direction of economic growth is having global impact. She advises governments and policymakers worldwide on state investment and innovation, sustainable and inclusive growth, the green transition and industrial strategy.
In the last years she has brought her ‘mission-oriented’ approach to the heart of economic policy: helping to shape the EU’s Innovation policy, steering the UK’s industrial policy, helping to create a new roadmap for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and informing the restructuring of development finance institutions.
In the UK, representatives of the three main political parties have spoken about the influence of Professor Mazzucato’s work on their policies. She is a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers and was a member of the UK Labour Party’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2015 to 2016, alongside Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty and others.
At a European level, Professor Mazzucato has advised and discussed her work with leading policymakers and Europe-wide institutions. She has been a member of two high-level EU task forces advising on innovation and smart, sustainable economic growth.
Mariana to Chair new WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All
The World Health Organization is convening eleven leading figures in economics, health and development from around the world as the first members of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health For All.
The Council’s role is to provide independent advice to the Director General and WHO on addressing interrelated health and economic challenges and map out a way forward that supports communities and countries to build healthy societies. To do so, the Council — which will be chaired by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, and counts Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin as a founding patron — will provide recommendations for a new approach to shape the economy that supports health for all as an overall goal.
The Council held its inaugural meeting on 6 May. The following day, Mariana joined Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu as a special guest at the WHO’s Covid-19 media briefing. To learn more about the WHO Council, and its founding members, you can visit its website here.
Scottish National Investment Bank a model for long-term, committed finance
From late 2020 Scotland’s new national investment bank will start providing long-term capital to projects and companies that serve Scottish government-set goals of cutting carbon emissions, reducing inequality and addressing demographic change. The SNIB will use £2bn in capital over 10 years in a push to help transform an economy that has struggled to match UK-wide growth rates in recent years.
Mariana developed a framework for guiding the bank’s investments towards tackling key societal challenges, and promoting transformational change across Scotland’s economy. Co-authored with Laurie Macfarlane, the paper is the latest contribution to IIPP’s path-breaking research on state investment banks.
The Scottish Government is already demonstrating global leadership in areas such as transitioning to a low carbon economy and promoting inclusive growth. But fulfilling this potential will require finding new ways of promoting investment in a smart, inclusive and sustainable direction. By making strategic investments and nurturing new firms and technologies, the new bank will support the Scottish Government’s ambitious agenda.
Mariana’s ‘missions’ at the core of EU research and innovation
Mariana’s ‘mission-oriented approach’ is at the core of the new EU research and innovation programme. Horizon Europe will build on the achievements and success of the previous research and innovation programme Horizon 2020), with the aim of keeping the EU at the forefront of global research and innovation.
In 2018, European Commissioner Carlos Moedas announced an ambitious €100bn research and innovation programme for the next EU budgets – with the work of Professor Mariana Mazzucato and her ‘mission-oriented’ framework a core part of the programme.
Known as ‘Horizon Europe’, the proposal aims to keep the EU at the forefront of global research and innovation, building on the success of the previous programme, Horizon 2020.
Report by G7 Economic Resilience Panel demands new social contract between public and private sector
Mariana represented Italy on the G7 Panel on Economic Resilience. The Panel’s final report put forward the ‘Cornwall Consensus’, which calls attention to the constraints on economic policy resulting from the assumptions of the Washington Consensus, and highlights the need for governments to work in partnership with private sector actors to shape economies that put the common good front and centre.
The Panel’s recommendations were brought to the G7 Leaders Summit in Cornwall in June 2021. The final report was released ahead of the 2021 G20 Leaders Summit and COP26 Climate Change Conference, calling on global leaders to adopt the recommendations of the Cornwall Consensus to build a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable global economy.
