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It is fair to say that in the last three decades, the world has been run by economists. Their orthodoxy has dominated civil services, central banks and policy-making. But one might look at the world right now and say that economists have made a hash of things. The crash, the lack of growth since the crash and the failure of the economic system to deliver for everyone, all evidence that something is not working. There has been an idea in economics that the public sector is open to flaws, that politics gets in the way, it lacks the discipline of competition, and it gets a kind of life of its own - looking after the different producer interests rather than consumer ones. On this view, the private sector is thus the natural default for economic activity. Economists would always acknowledge that markets fail too, and then government must act. But as a default, the assumption has been private first, public second. That whole view has been challenged by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London. (Photo: Professor Mariana Mazzucato, University College London Credit: Getty Images)
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