Mission Economy

paperback, 212 pages

Published by ALLEN LANE.

ISBN:
978-0-241-43531-1
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4 stars (9 reviews)

4 editions

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4 stars

It's interesting to come across a progressive take on the economy that doesn't just come out of the gate screaming, "capitalism=bad, we need socialism now!" and instead argues that the existing system can work towards progressive causes. It was even more interesting to have the past re-framed in a way to show that we have already done what the author is pitching for.

The central argument here is that the government (and while there are mentions of the UK and a few other countries, this is largely an American-centric focus) should be more proactive in engaging with private businesses. Rather than being the lender of last resort (see the '08 bank bailouts), the government should state a measurable and easily defined goal, then spur investments in pursuit of that goal with the idea that multiple different sectors of the market will follow afterwards. The primary example used through the book …

a pitch and not much more

3 stars

This book is easy to read and has a compelling central idea. It talks about what made the moon race work so well and indicates how to replicate the success. However, I worry that through the very writing of this book, the very mission-ness of the idea gets lost. I am sure that McKinsey already has a long presentation deck on what makes a mission a mission and how to properly set up a mission and execute it (and spend billions in the process). Using the moon race as an example is easy because it obviously succeeded and happened a long time ago, but it's also a cop-out to not have to say why similar efforts (many of them started with the advice of Mazzucato herself) are failing. The contemporary examples she cites are not compelling; she points towards the "Energiewende" (energy turn) in Germany as a positive example, a …

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