The Value of Everything: making and taking in the global economy is written by Italian-American academic Mariana Mazzucato.
Background
Mazzucato’s work focuses on the intersection of innovation, economics and the role of government. Currently she is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL).
For an economics book The Value of Everything is surprisingly accessible to read. I managed to get through it’s 180 pages in just over a day.
Starting with a quick tour of economic history over five centuries, Mazzucato dissects what value actually means, its connection to statehood and how that meaning has evolved over time.
Premise
The central premise of Mazzucato’s argument is that there are problems the way market economies currently work. Those problems come from the imbalance between value creation and value extraction. The book argues that it is far too easy for those operating in the market economy to get rich by extracting value from those who actually create it, rather than by adding it themselves.
The book diagnoses the reasons for this challenge, notably how value is defined by economists, business people, governments, investors and politicians. Along the way, it touches on what Will Hutton’s The State We’re In termed ‘short-termism’. Mazzucato’s argument isn’t a new one and covers areas that have been talked about in the UK economy since the 1960s by the likes of economist Nicholas Kaldor. If you’ve watched the work of BBC documentary film maker, Adam Curtis the subject matter will feel very familiar.
Mazzucato also addresses the value imbalances in technology platforms echoing the work of Columbia law professor Tim Wu’s work from The Master Switch in 2010 to The Age of Extraction published last year.
In at the top
What makes Mazzucato different to the likes of Gary Stevenson is that the current government is at least paying lip service to her ideas, notably the idea of a mission led government. Whether or not the government can turn Mazzucato’s ideas in The Value of Everything into actionable policy and deliver on it is a discussion way beyond this book review.
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