Mariana Mazzucato

Mariana Francesca Mazzucato (born June 16, 1968 ) is an Italian–American-British economist and academic.

She is a professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL) and founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).

She is best known for her work on dynamics of technological change, the role of the public sector in innovation, and the concept of value in economics.

The New Republic have called her one of the "most important thinkers about innovation".

Mazzucato has published widely in the fields of innovation economics, value theory and political economy and is the author of various books, including The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths, The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy, and Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism.

Her career has emphasised translating economic ideas into policy and she holds numerous high-level policy roles.

Currently, she is chair of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health for All, a member of the Scottish Government's Council of Economic Advisers, the South African President's Economic Advisory Council, and the United Nations' High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs.

In 2021, in recognition of her contributions to economic theory and policy, Mazzucato received the Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana from the Italian President, Italy's highest civilian honour.

Mazzucato was born in Rome, Italy to parents Ernesto Mazzucato, a physicist, and Alessandra Mazzucato, who are both Italian.

In 1972, the family moved to Princeton, New Jersey, with their three young children, Valentina, Mariana and Jacopo, after Ernesto accepted a position at Princeton University's Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Mazzucato spent most of her early life in the US before returning to Europe.

In 1986, Mazzucato graduated from Princeton High School.

In 1990, Mazzucato received a B.A. in history and international relations from Tufts University.

In 1994, Mazzucato received a M.A. in economics from the New School for Social Research before earning her PhD in Economics at the New School in 1999.

Her dissertation was titled Four Essays on Evolutionary Market Share Dynamics: A Computational Approach.

Her thesis advisors were Willi Semmler, Lance Taylor, Duncan K. Foley, and Charles Tilly.

From 1995 to 1997, Mazzucato was an adjunct professor of economics at New York University.

She taught at the University of Denver between 1997 and 1999.

Between 1998 and 1999 she was a post-doctoral Marie Curie Research Fellow at the London Business School where she worked closely with Paul Geroski.

She joined The Open University in 1999 as a lecturer and became a full professor in 2005.

She founded their Innovation, Knowledge and Development research centre.

From 2008 to 2010 she was a visiting professor at Bocconi University.

Between 2011 and 2017, she was the RM Phillips Chair in the Economics of Innovation at the University of Sussex before moving to University College London in 2017 to become Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value and found their Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).

Mazzucato has been active in advising governments on innovation and growth policies.

In 2014, she was a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

Between 2015 and 2019, she was a member of the international advisory panel of Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund.

She is currently a member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the Scottish Government, a role she has held since 2015.

Between 2015 and 2016, she served on the British Labour Party's Economic Advisory Committee providing advice to the Shadow Cabinet.

As well as national governments, Mazzucato has also served as an economic advisor to international institutions, including the World Economic Forum, the European Commission, the World Health Organization, the OECD, and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

She was a member of the European Commission's Task Force on Public Sector Innovation and their expert group on Innovation for Growth (RISE).

In 2016, Mazzucato became the first woman to give the Raúl Prebisch Lecture organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile.

In 2018, she was co-chair of the Commission for Mission Oriented Innovation and Industrial Strategy informing the Government of the United Kingdom's Industrial Strategy.

She worked closely with the Scottish Government and First Minister in establishing the Scottish National Investment Bank in 2018.

From 2018-2019, she was Special Advisor to the European Commission's Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas.

In 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Mazzucato to be a member of his Economic Advisory Council, a position where she remains active in providing recommendations for building sustainable and inclusive development.

Since 2020, Mazzucato has been a member of the Innovation Expert Group at the United Kingdom Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and a member international advisory panel of Vinnova, Sweden's innovation agency.

In 2020, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appointed Mazzucato as a Special Advisor on economic policy and made her Italy's representative economist on the G7 Panel on Economic Resilience which advised the G7 leaders at the 2021 G7 Summit in Cornwall, UK.

In 2020, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, appointed Mazzucato as Chair of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health for All.

From 2022 to 2023, she served on the European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group on Human and Robotic Space Exploration for Europe.

Currently, she also serves on the United Nation's High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Solutions Network Leadership Council, the United Nation's Committee for Development Policy and the Commission for Universal Health convened by Chatham House.