bwaber reviewed The value of everything by Mariana Mazzucato
A Compelling Position on Modern Economic Policy and Thought
4 stars
Mariana Mazzucato provides, with a few exceptions, an excellent overview of the assumptions that have been baked into modern economics - in particular, the conflation of price and value - and the problems that creates for economic policy. She convincingly points out the issues with this assumption in the traditional finance sector as well as government, and how this has likely stunted investment in the "real" economy.
The sections in this book on private equity and venture capital are fairly implausible. Mazzucato claims that VCs only bet on "sure things," but later discusses how a high percentage of startups fail. With private equity she also bemoans their ineffectiveness, while simultaneously discussing their relatively long fund time horizons.
The sections on the valuation of government services, what labor is accounted for in national accounts, and the inefficiency of much of the traditional finance sector are, in contrast, expertly argued. I would …
Mariana Mazzucato provides, with a few exceptions, an excellent overview of the assumptions that have been baked into modern economics - in particular, the conflation of price and value - and the problems that creates for economic policy. She convincingly points out the issues with this assumption in the traditional finance sector as well as government, and how this has likely stunted investment in the "real" economy.
The sections in this book on private equity and venture capital are fairly implausible. Mazzucato claims that VCs only bet on "sure things," but later discusses how a high percentage of startups fail. With private equity she also bemoans their ineffectiveness, while simultaneously discussing their relatively long fund time horizons.
The sections on the valuation of government services, what labor is accounted for in national accounts, and the inefficiency of much of the traditional finance sector are, in contrast, expertly argued. I would have liked a lot more time spent on how to approach teasing apart profit and rents, since while many examples are brought up there's no proposal for a general, holistic approach. Still, this book is overall an excellent addition to the canon of modern economic thought.
