Is it time to smash the economic consensus?
6/3/202648 min
Should it be about the pre-distribution, rather than re-distribution, of wealth? Will that create an economy with fewer billionaires? How would it work in practice? Is it even possible given the balance of power lies with the rich?
Leading economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato is back to tell us why her theory on ‘The Common Good’ is a game changer for Western economies. Plus does she think Gabriel Zucman’s wealth tax on billionaires is a good idea? Robert and Steph find out.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMariana Mazzucato· Guest0:01
So of course, we need to get the taxes right, wealth tax, land tax, capital gains, corporate, but we should also make sure that when governments are speaking to businesses, they don't get kind of bullied. If you change the tax or intellectual property rights, then I'm leaving. As soon as you fail, you're in the front page of the paper.
Steph McGovern· Host0:15
Yeah.
Mariana Mazzucato· Guest0:16
Whereas venture capitalists and entrepreneurs love it when they fail, 'cause then they say, "Look, yeah, I had to fail 10 times to succeed. That's why I'm a risk-taker." We don't allow that learning by doing, and that's why I've been helping countries think about gov labs. Like, how do you create a laboratory within a government, even a local government, that actually explicitly welcomes risk-taking, experimentation, and trial and error to learn how to do things better?
Robert Peston· Host0:37
You know, you are broadly talking about the dismantling of, of the Western way of, of doing things.
Mariana Mazzucato· Guest0:43
So I'm glad you put it that way because- This episode is brought to you by Octopus Energy.
Steph McGovern· Host0:49
Greg Jackson, the CEO, is with us now. So Greg, I've got a question for you. Is it true that by 2040 in China there will be no petrol stations because everyone will be driving electric cars?
Greg Jackson1:02
Yeah. [laughs] Crazy as it seems, the Chinese state oil company, the one in charge of its petrol stations, is planning on having none by 2040. Uh, if you visit China today, what's really striking is the roads are quiet. I mean, uh, all of the two-wheeled vehicles that used to pump out pollution and noise are now electric. Uh, pretty much all the taxis, buses, uh, increasingly more than half the private cars that are sold there now are electric, and even