Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

In Rethinking Capitalism, leading economists challenge orthodox ideas about economic theory and policy and propose new approaches to achieving a more just and sustainable economy. The contributors analyse the reality of contemporary capitalism and the failure of current economic policies to encourage long–term growth, innovation and investment, to tackle climate change, or to achieve an equitable distribution of income and wealth.  Each chapter shows how these deep economic problems in developed countries reflect the inadequacies of contemporary economic theory introduces alternative economic frameworks which better explain how capitalism works; and suggests practical policy reforms to address these problems. The chapters cover topics such as fiscal and monetary policy, inequality, climate change, the financial system, innovation, government intervention, and austerity. This is a comprehensive look at capitalism in crisis that offers innovative, forward–thinking ideas for revitalizing modern economies.

Mariana Mazzucato is RM Phillips Chair in the Economics of Innovation at the Science Policy Research Unit in the University of Sussex, UK. Previously she has held academic positions at the University of Denver, London Business School, Open University, and Bocconi University in Italy. Her research focuses on the relationship between financial markets, innovation, and economic growth. She is the author of The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Private vs. Public Sector Myths (2013), which was one of the Financial Times Books of the Year in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Wirtschaftsbuchpreis in Germany. In 2014, she was winner of the New Statesman SPERI Prize in Political Economy. She advises the UK government and the EC on innovation–led growth and is a frequent contributor to the print and broadcast media.

Michael Jacobs is Visiting Professor in the School of Public Policy at University College London, and in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. He was formerly Special Adviser to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers at the UK Treasury, and head of the Fabian Society. A political economist and theorist, he is the author or editor of a number of books on environmental economics and progressive politics, including Paying for Progress: A New Politics of Tax for Public Spending (2000), Greening the Millennium? The New Politics of the Environment (Blackwell, 1998), The Politics of the Real World (1996), and The Green Economy: Environment, Sustainable Development, and the Politics of the Future (1991).