Mariana Mazzucato Thinks We Need More Moonshots
Odd Lots
Bloomberg
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's guest Mariana Mazzucato is one of our most requested. Mazzucato, a professor of economics at University College London and the founding director of its Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, specializes in the political economy of technological development and public sector investment. In our conversation, recorded in Madrid while at the Bloomberg CityLab conference, she explains her concept of the "mission economy," her definition of state capacity, how to prevent top talent from fleeing to the private sector, and whether consultants or governments should be blamed for inefficiencies and civic failures. It's a wide-ranging interview, one that covers everything from the initial public financing of Silicon Valley algorithms to the history of moonshots.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Some follow the noise. |
| 0:03.3 | Bloomberg follows the money. |
| 0:05.4 | Because behind every headline is a bottom line. |
| 0:09.3 | Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings, |
| 0:13.8 | there's a money side to every story. |
| 0:16.5 | And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. |
| 0:20.8 | Get the money side of you understand what others miss. |
| 0:22.3 | Get the money side of the story. |
| 0:25.3 | Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. |
| 0:35.0 | Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts Radio News. News. |
| 0:49.6 | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots podcast. |
| 0:50.9 | I'm Jill Wisenthall. |
| 0:52.0 | And I'm Tracy Allaway. |
| 0:53.4 | We're still here in Madrid, Tracy. |
| 0:53.7 | How are you? |
| 0:54.8 | You have a good time? I am. I've eaten a lot of ham andall. And I'm Tracy Allaway. We're still here in Madrid, Tracy. How are you? You have a good time? |
| 1:04.0 | I am. I've eaten a lot of ham and cheese. That's pretty much all I can say. Yeah, I'm going to turn into a humong by the time I leave. I'm certain of that. |
| 1:13.3 | So we are at the Bloomberg City Lab conference. You know, it's funny, like the mayoral level of politics, not something we spend a ton of time typically on. |
| 1:28.3 | But I would say, like, it definitely, you know, when I think about it, when I'm like here and like listening to a lot of the conversations, it's just so obviously, like, connected to a lot of the themes we talk about because so much of our discussions have to do with something related to, you know, |
| 1:34.5 | innovation or technology or implementation of policy and how it spans both the public and private sectors. |
| 1:35.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:35.5 | I mean, also, when I think about a lot of odd lots topics like AI or housing affordability |
... |
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