> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 15 April 2018
  • ISBN: 9780141986104
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $26.00

The Entrepreneurial State

Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths




From one of the world's leading economists, a bestselling exposé of the state's crucial role in sparking innovation and growth - and the dangers of ignoring this truth

Conventional wisdom holds that innovation is the preserve of the private sector, best left in the hands of that modern day folk hero - the lone entrepreneur. In this popular tale, the role of the public sector is simply to get out of the way, at best fixing market failures, in order to facilitate our daring hero's bold, risk-taking endeavours. But what if this powerful, contemporary myth is wrong?

In this sharp and controversial expose, Mariana Mazzucato comprehensively debunks the myth of a lumbering, bureaucratic state weighing down a dynamic private sector, to reveal how public investments have been behind many of the greatest innovations of our time. From the technologies that make the iPhone 'smart', to biotech, pharmaceuticals and today's emerging green technologies, it is the state that has been the investor of first resort, our boldest and most valuable innovator. Meanwhile, the private sector only finds the courage to invest after the State has made the truly pioneering, high-risk investments.

  • Published: 15 April 2018
  • ISBN: 9780141986104
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $26.00

About the author

Mariana Mazzucato

Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London where she is Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Her award winning books include The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (2013) and The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018). She advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth, and has won many prizes including the 2020 John von Neumann award, the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values and the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

Also by Mariana Mazzucato

See all

Praise for The Entrepreneurial State

Read her book. It will challenge your thinking

Forbes

One of the most incisive economics books in years

New York Review of Books

This book has a controversial thesis. But it is basically right

Financial Times