Financing the Common Good


Article by Mariana Mazzucato: “…The international monetary system which emerged in the aftermath of World War II undoubtedly represented an important innovation. But its structure is no longer fit for purpose. The challenges we face today—from climate change to public-health crises—are complex, interrelated and global in nature. Our financial institutions must reflect this reality.

Because the financial system echoes the logic of the entire economic system, this will require a more fundamental change: we must broaden the economic thinking that has long underpinned institutional mandates. To shape the markets of the future, maximising public value in the process, we must embrace an entirely new economics.

Most economic thinking today assigns the state and multilateral actors responsibility for removing barriers to economic activity, de-risking trade and finance and levelling the playing-field for business. As a result, governments and international lenders tinker around the edges of markets, rather than doing what is actually needed—deliberately shaping the economic and financial system to advance the common good…(More)”.