Mission Economy
A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism
Book Edition Details
Summary
Half a century ago, humanity gazed at the moon and dared to dream—and then made it a reality through unprecedented collaboration between government and private sectors. "Mission Economy" by Mariana Mazzucato reimagines this bold spirit of innovation for today's pressing global challenges: climate change, disease, and inequality. Mazzucato provocatively argues that by embracing ambitious 'missions' akin to the Apollo program, we can transform government and capitalism. This book champions a radical shift, urging us to invest in future-oriented strategies that prioritize societal good. Will we rise to the occasion, investing in our planet as we once did the stars?
Introduction
Contemporary capitalism faces unprecedented challenges that demand fundamental transformation rather than incremental reform. The prevailing economic orthodoxy positions government as merely a market fixer, intervening only when private enterprise falters, while celebrating entrepreneurial risk-taking as the exclusive domain of business leaders. This framework has produced a system where financial speculation dominates productive investment, corporate short-termism undermines long-term growth, and environmental destruction accelerates unchecked. The inadequacy of this approach becomes starkly apparent when examining history's most ambitious technological achievements, which consistently emerged from bold government-led missions rather than pure market mechanisms. The moon landing exemplifies how transformative innovation occurs when public purpose drives collaborative effort across sectors. Government did not merely correct market failures but actively created new markets, absorbed enormous risks, and coordinated hundreds of organizations toward a shared objective. This mission-oriented approach challenges fundamental assumptions about value creation, risk allocation, and the proper relationship between public and private actors. By examining both historical precedents and contemporary possibilities, a new framework emerges that positions government as an active market shaper rather than passive facilitator. This analysis reveals how reimagining government's role could address today's most pressing challenges while creating more equitable and sustainable economic relationships.
The Crisis of Current Capitalism and Government Failures
The contemporary economic system exhibits profound structural dysfunction across multiple dimensions that conventional policy responses have failed to address. Financial markets increasingly channel resources toward speculative activities rather than productive investment, with most bank lending supporting real estate bubbles and financial asset manipulation instead of innovation or infrastructure development. This financialization extends beyond traditional finance sectors, as corporations devote unprecedented portions of their cash flows to share buybacks and dividend payments rather than research, development, or worker training. Corporate governance structures prioritize short-term stock price appreciation over long-term value creation, producing a paradox where businesses claim insufficient investment opportunities while systematically underinvesting in areas with clear social need and commercial potential. The pharmaceutical industry exemplifies this pattern, spending more on marketing and financial engineering than developing treatments for neglected diseases, despite substantial public funding supporting basic research underlying most breakthrough medications. Environmental degradation accelerates as market mechanisms fail to incorporate ecological costs or incentivize sustainable practices at the necessary scale and speed. Climate change represents perhaps the starkest illustration of capitalism's inability to address challenges requiring long-term coordination and investment, as quarterly earnings pressures consistently overwhelm sustainability considerations. Meanwhile, inequality reaches levels that undermine both social cohesion and economic dynamism, as stagnant wages limit consumer demand while concentrated wealth flows toward increasingly speculative investments. Government responses remain constrained by ideological frameworks that position public action as necessarily inferior to private initiative. This mindset produces reactive policies focused on correcting market failures rather than proactive strategies that could prevent such failures or create superior outcomes. The resulting policy toolkit emphasizes deregulation, privatization, and outsourcing, often worsening the problems it purports to solve while weakening public sector capacity for future challenges. Breaking this cycle requires recognizing that market outcomes reflect governance structures and policy choices rather than natural economic laws.
Apollo Program as Model for Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy
The Apollo program demonstrates how mission-oriented approaches can transcend conventional boundaries between public and private sectors to achieve seemingly impossible objectives. Rather than merely providing funding or tax incentives, government actively shaped technological development through direct investment, risk absorption, and coordination of diverse organizational capabilities. This approach required abandoning traditional bureaucratic procedures in favor of flexible management structures that could adapt rapidly to technical challenges and changing circumstances. Leadership proved essential not merely for inspiration but for maintaining focus amid inevitable setbacks and technical failures. The clear objective of landing humans on the moon and returning them safely provided measurable criteria for success while permitting multiple pathways and experimental approaches. This specificity enabled decentralized innovation as hundreds of organizations could align their efforts without micromanagement from central authorities. The program's structure encouraged bottom-up problem-solving within a top-down strategic framework. Risk-taking became institutionalized through portfolio approaches that expected numerous failures as necessary steps toward ultimate success. The Apollo 1 disaster, rather than terminating the program, triggered comprehensive organizational learning and system redesigns that improved safety while maintaining ambitious timelines. This willingness to learn from failure contrasts sharply with contemporary risk-aversion that often prevents government agencies from attempting transformative projects. Cross-sector collaboration emerged organically as technical challenges required expertise spanning traditional industry boundaries. Companies specializing in aircraft manufacturing had to master spacecraft design, while computer firms developed unprecedented miniaturization capabilities. Universities contributed both fundamental research and practical problem-solving, while government laboratories maintained sufficient internal expertise to evaluate contractor performance and prevent capture. The resulting ecosystem combined competition with cooperation, as organizations simultaneously competed for contracts while sharing knowledge necessary for mission success. Financial arrangements reflected long-term commitment rather than annual budget cycles, providing stability necessary for multi-year development projects. Outcomes-based evaluation focused on mission accomplishment rather than conventional cost-benefit calculations that might have terminated the program before achieving its objectives. This financial approach created incentives for genuine innovation rather than incremental improvements to existing technologies.
Implementing Missions for Societal Challenges and Green Transition
Contemporary challenges require adapting mission-oriented principles to address complex societal problems that combine technological, behavioral, and political dimensions. Unlike the Apollo program's primarily technical focus, modern missions must engage diverse stakeholder communities and navigate democratic processes while maintaining sufficient direction to achieve concrete objectives. Climate change exemplifies these complexities, as effective responses require coordinated transformation across energy, transportation, manufacturing, and consumption patterns. Mission selection must balance ambition with feasibility while inspiring broad participation across sectors and communities. Successful missions establish clear, measurable objectives within specified timeframes that can guide investment decisions and policy coordination. The European Union's carbon-neutral cities mission illustrates this approach by creating concrete targets that require innovation in multiple areas while remaining comprehensible to diverse audiences. Similarly, health missions addressing pandemic preparedness or aging populations must integrate medical research with social service delivery and community engagement. Implementation requires new governance structures that can coordinate across traditional institutional boundaries while maintaining democratic accountability. Mission-oriented policies must work through existing departmental structures while creating horizontal connections that enable system-wide transformation. This coordination challenge becomes particularly acute when addressing issues like digital inclusion, which spans education, telecommunications, economic development, and social services while requiring different solutions for rural and urban contexts. Citizen engagement proves essential for missions addressing social challenges, as technical solutions alone cannot achieve objectives requiring behavioral change or community support. The German Energiewende demonstrates how broad public backing can sustain long-term transformation despite short-term costs and political opposition. However, such support requires genuine participation in mission design rather than mere consultation after objectives have been predetermined by technical experts or political leaders. Financial innovation becomes necessary to support missions requiring patient capital and risk-sharing across public and private sectors. Traditional procurement approaches often prove inadequate for purchasing solutions that do not yet exist or coordinating investments across multiple organizations and timeframes. Mission-oriented financing must combine grants, loans, and equity investments while ensuring that public contributions generate appropriate returns for taxpayers rather than merely subsidizing private profits.
New Political Economy Framework for Collective Value Creation
Mission-oriented approaches require theoretical foundations that recognize value creation as inherently collective rather than primarily individual or corporate. This perspective challenges fundamental assumptions underlying market failure theory, which positions government intervention as necessary only when private markets produce suboptimal outcomes. Instead, markets themselves emerge from interactions between public and private actors operating within institutional frameworks that shape incentives and possibilities. Understanding markets as collectively created and continuously shaped enables proactive policies that create opportunities rather than merely correcting deficiencies. This market-shaping approach requires government capabilities for strategic planning, risk assessment, and partnership development that conventional administrative structures often lack. Building these capabilities necessitates investing in public sector expertise and organizational learning rather than outsourcing core functions to private contractors or consultants. Distribution of rewards from collective value creation must reflect contributions from all participants rather than concentrating benefits among shareholders or senior executives. This requires contractual innovations that ensure public investments generate appropriate returns through equity stakes, conditional lending, or revenue sharing arrangements. Such approaches could create virtuous cycles where successful public investments generate resources for subsequent missions while demonstrating the value of collaborative innovation. Organizational transformation becomes essential as mission success depends on capabilities for experimentation, adaptation, and cross-sector collaboration that traditional hierarchical structures often inhibit. Dynamic capabilities for learning and adjustment must be developed within both public and private organizations, along with new forms of partnership that align incentives around shared objectives rather than narrow self-interest. Participation mechanisms must enable meaningful citizen engagement in mission design and implementation rather than limiting public input to reactive consultation processes. This requires new institutions and processes that can integrate diverse perspectives while maintaining sufficient coherence to achieve concrete objectives. Democratic participation in mission-oriented policies could revitalize civic engagement while ensuring that transformation serves broad social purposes rather than elite interests.
Summary
The transformation of capitalism requires reconceptualizing government as an active market creator rather than passive market fixer, capable of driving mission-oriented innovation that addresses society's most pressing challenges through collaborative partnerships across sectors. Historical analysis of the Apollo program reveals how ambitious public purpose can coordinate unprecedented innovation when supported by appropriate organizational structures, risk-sharing mechanisms, and long-term financial commitment. Contemporary applications of these principles to challenges like climate change, digital inclusion, and public health demonstrate both the potential for transformative change and the additional complexities introduced by social and political dimensions requiring genuine democratic participation. This framework offers hope for creating more equitable and sustainable economic systems while providing concrete guidance for policymakers seeking to move beyond incremental reforms toward fundamental transformation of how public and private actors collaborate in creating collective value.
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By Mariana Mazzucato
