Mariana Mazzucato Attacks the Philosophy of Neoclassical Economics

Part I of this chapter zooms in on Mazzucato’s passionate plea for a radical overhaul of neoclassical economics’ philosophy. She argues that the notion of value had been lost. Neoclassicals had replaced value by utility. Along the way, economics had lost its moral dimension. This influenced the way financial institutions are appreciated, i.e., as value creators, while government is not creating value. This led to unbalanced developments in the economy, such as the growing gap between rich and poor, hollowing out government’s capacity, and environmental degradation. Mazzucato pays special attention to government’s value-creating role, and suggests directions in which economies could move. Part II pays attention to Hannah Arendt’s thinking, but also to what ‘worldly philosophers’ Keynes, Polanyi, and Joseph Schumpeter contributed to Mazzucato’s philosophical formation.