Book Talk: The Big Con

[[{"fid":"14287","view_mode":"small","fields":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Carolina Alves","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Carolina Alves","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"attributes":{"height":"941","width":"941","class":"media-element file-small media-wysiwyg-align-left"}}]]Carolina has joined IIPP from Girton College at the University of Cambridge where she was the Joan Robinson Research Fellow in Heterodox Economics and a College Teaching Officer at the Faculty of Economics. At Cambridge, she has been leading teaching in macroeconomics, political and social aspects of economics, and history and philosophy of economics, while also being the Director of Studies for Economics for second-year undergrads, and a member of Girton’s College Council responsible for the stewardship of the College.
Carolina is the co-founder of Diversifying and Decolonising Economics – a network of economists working to promote inclusiveness in economics in both the academic content and the field’s institutional structures. She is a member of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Advisory Group - a research initiative aimed at re-invigorating macroeconomics and bringing it back to the fore as a policy-relevant social science, as well as being the co-editor for the Developing Economics blog, which takes a critical approach to creating discussion and reflection in the field of economics.

She is also a board member on the Progressive Economy Forum Council (PEF) and Positive Money.   

[[{"fid":"14132","view_mode":"small","fields":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Rosie","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Rosie","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"attributes":{"height":"320","width":"320","class":"media-element file-small media-wysiwyg-align-left"}}]]Rosie Collington is a PhD candidate at IIPP, under the supervision of Professor Mariana Mazzucato and Dr Kate Roll. Her research explores the political economy of health innovation and the role of the state in value creation. She holds an MSc in Political Science (International Political Economy) from the University of Copenhagen, during which she also received a grant to study on exchange at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Alongside her studies, she worked at Copenhagen Business School, and at the Center for Medical Science and Technology Studies at the University of Copenhagen as a Research Assistant.

Before joining IIPP in September 2020, she held roles in policy and advocacy at the British Heart Foundation, and most recently as a Researcher for a project led by Professor William Lazonick on pharmaceutical industry financialization, funded by the Institute for New Economic Thinking. She has also worked on a freelance basis with a number of think tanks and advocacy groups, and has written for public audiences in The Guardian, The New Statesman, openDemocracy and elsewhere. She is a Coordinator of the Economics of Innovation Working Group with the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s Young Scholars Initiative.

[[{"fid":"14054","view_mode":"small","fields":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Mariana Mazzucato","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Mariana Mazzucato","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"attributes":{"height":"350","width":"350","class":"media-element file-small media-wysiwyg-align-left"}}]]Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). She received her BA from Tufts University and her MA and PhD from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research. Her previous posts include the RM Phillips Professorial Chair at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University. She is a selected fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and of the Italian National Science Academy (Lincei). 

She is winner of international prizes including the Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2021, Italy’s highest civilian honour, the 2020 John von Neumann Award, the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values, and the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. She was named as one of the ‘3 most important thinkers about innovation‘ by The New Republic, one of the 50 most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company, and one of the 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism by WIRED. Most recently, Pope Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Academy for Life for bringing “more humanity” to the world. 

She is the author of four highly-acclaimed books: The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013) which investigates the critical role the state plays in driving growth; The Value of Everything: making and taking in the global economy (2018) which looks at how value creation needs to be rewarded over value extraction; Mission Economy: a moonshot guide to changing capitalism (2021) rethinks the capacity and role of government within the economy and society; and most recently The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies (2023). 

She advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being Chair of the World Health Organization’s Council on the Economics of Health for All, Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, Co-Chair on the Council on Urban Initiatives, member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, the UN High Level Advisory Board for Economic and Social Affairs, the European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group on Human and Robotic Space Exploration for Europe, Argentina’s Economic and Social Council and Vinnova’s Advisory Panel in Sweden and the OECD High-Level Advisory Panel on Climate and Economic Resilience. Previously, through her role as Special Advisor for the EC Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation (2017-2019), she authored the high-impact report on Mission-Oriented Research and Innovation in the European Union, turning “missions” into a crucial new instrument in the European Commission’s Horizon innovation programme, and more recently, authored a report with the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on Transformational Change in Latin America and the Caribbean: A mission-oriented approach. 

[[{"fid":"14396","view_mode":"small","fields":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"John Elkington","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"John Elkington","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"attributes":{"height":"3024","width":"3024","class":"media-element file-small media-wysiwyg-align-left"}}]]John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable capitalism, a bestselling author and serial entrepreneur. John is founder and chief-pollinator at Volans, which works with leaders to make sense of the emergent future to unlock tomorrow’s market value.

Volans tackles some of the world's most challenging problems, helping key actors expand their focus from the responsibility agenda through resilience to regeneration. Much of the work is at Board or C-suite level. John's thought leadership is evident in ongoing in Volans Inquiries including Project Breakthrough, Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry and the Green Swans Observatory.

John has helped create and incubate movements including the global sustainability movement and powerfully shaped initiatives like the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the Global Reporting Initiative, and B Lab UK. He was a faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002- 2008. And in 2009, he was named fourth in an international survey top 100 CSR leaders, after Al Gore, Barack Obama, and the late Anita Roddick. 
John has addressed over 1,500 conferences globally and served on over 80 boards and advisory boards. He is the author or co-author of 20 books, the latest being Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism.

In 2021, John won the prestigious World Sustainability Award.

[[{"fid":"14398","view_mode":"small","fields":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Jeremy Oppenheim","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"small","alignment":"left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Jeremy Oppenheim","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][title]":"","field_caption_heading[und][0][url]":"","field_caption[und][0][value]":"","field_float_left_right[und]":"none","field_file_image_decorative[und]":"0"}},"attributes":{"height":"4500","width":"4500","class":"media-element file-small media-wysiwyg-align-left"}}]]Jeremy is founder and senior partner of SYSTEMIQ, a B-Corporation dedicated to accelerating delivery of the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals by transforming policy, markets, business models and asset classes through SYSTEMIQ’s four platforms: clean energy, materials, nature and finance (with urban in the making). With more than 250 people in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Brazil and France, SYSTEMIQ combines cutting-edge research with corporate strategy advice, policy insights and high-impact, hands-on projects. SYSTEMIQ manages a focused pool of disruptive capital from mission-aligned investors and works globally and locally to help partners anticipate, shape and create value in the new economy.

An economist, business adviser and convener of coalitions, Jeremy is driven by one simple idea: tackling the biggest challenges of our times requires urgent, structural change to economic systems and thus demands new levels of collaboration across business, investors, government and civil society. He cultivates this multi-sectoral partnership approach with the help of strong connections across industries and countries built over a career of pioneering this space. Jeremy has endless energy for this work and is forever developing new initiatives to deliver a sustainable world.

Jeremy was the first programme director of the Global Commission on Economy and Climate 2014 (otherwise known as the New Climate Economy project); lead author of the Better Business, Better World report (2018) of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission; Chair of the Blended Finance Taskforce; and Global Programme Director/Co-Lead Author of the Growing Better report (2019) of the Food and Land-Use Commission. He is chair of the non-profit, Global Action Plan; Founder and Chairman from 2000-2006 of UnLtd - The UK Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs; and over the past 6 years, a trustee on the Board of the Woodwell Climate Research Center.

Previously, Jeremy spent more than 20 years at McKinsey, developing and leading its Climate Change Special Initiative and its Sustainability and Resource Productivity Practice. He also served as Senior Economist at the World Bank (1988-1993) and Research Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development (1986-1987). Jeremy holds a first-class degree from Cambridge University in Law and Economics (1984) and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1986).