Prof Mariana Mazzucato

Professor of the Economics of Innovation

Economics

Profile

Mariana Mazzucato is a Professor of Economics at the Open University (UK). After receiving her PhD in 1999 from the New School University, she became Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Denver, and then joined the London Business School through a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship. She is currently the Coordinator of a 3 year FP7 project on Finance, Innovation and Growth (FINNOV, 2009-2012, EC Contribution Euros 1.5 million) and is Economics Director of the ESRC Innogen centre. Since 2006 she has been a Visiting Professor at the Bocconi University (KITES centre). She is Deputy Director of the Open University's Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKD) inter-faculty research centre which she directed from 2004-2009.

Watch Prof Mazzucato's 90 second lecture on the Knowledge Economy

Watch the video from Mariana Mazzucato's Inaugural Lecture

Download Mariana Mazzucato's CV for more information (PDF document)

Qualifications

BA (Tufts, Massachusetts), MA/PhD (New School University, NY)

Course Development and Teaching Commitments

From 2008-2009 I Chaired the production of Personal investment in an uncertain world (DB234), and am one of the editors of the associated book, co-published with Palgrave Macmillan. The course, which builds on the course You and your money: personal finance in context (DB123) course, will begin in May 2010 (both courses are core to the OU's new Foundation Degree in Financial Services).

Open University, Department of Economics - Economics and economic change (DD202) - Author of Chapter 2 "Information Technology: A New Era?," (12,000 words). Provided large contribution to material used for Block 1 "Are We Living Through a New Industrial Revolution".

Open University, Business School - Business behaviour in a changing world (B300) - Wrote and organised all the material for Strategy Module of B300 (module 2 of 3). Editor of Reader on Strategy for Business, ISBN 0-7619-7413-X. Author of extensive Study-Guide for all 6 sections of Module 2: Strategy (35,000 words)

Teaching outside of the Open University

Bocconi University, Milan, Italy (Visiting Professor)
2006-2010
    Industry Analysis Econ 8425 (Masters),
    Industry Dynamics and International Competitiveness Econ 8205 (Masters)

University of Denver (Tenure Track Assistant Professor)
1997-1999
    Foundations of Economics
    Industrial Organization (Masters)
    Mathematics for Economists (Masters)

New York University
1995-1996
    Introductory Microeconomics
    Introductory Macroeconomics

Research Interests

Professor Mazzucato's research uses theoretical, empirical and computational techniques to study the feedback between technological change, firm performance and industrial market structures. Her work highlights the origin and evolution of persistent differences between firms and the evolution of these differences over the industry life-cycle. Her empirical work has focused on automobile, personal computer and biotech-pharmaceutical industries. Her most recent work has related - theoretically and empirically - the dynamics of technological change and industrial instability to the dynamics of stock price volatility.

Research Fields
Industrial Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Evolutionary Economics, Economics of Growth and Technological Change, Business Strategy, Computational Economics.

Grant funded research projects
European Commission Coordinator of FP7 Collaborative Project, Finance, Innovation and Growth (FINNOV). 2009-2012, 1.5 million Euros. www.finnov-fp7.eu

ESRC Centre  Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics, Open University and Univ of Edinburgh and part of the ESRC Genomics Network. Economics Director. and Co-investigator (25% of time). 2nd phase funding, 2007-2012. www.genomicsnetwork.ac.uk/innogen/

British Academy Small Grant (£7,033). PI: Firm Growth Dynamics in Different Knowledge Regimes: The Biotech Sector, 2005-2007.

European Commission 5th Framework Programme Grant: Econ-Change: Micro-Foundations of Entrepreneurial and Organisational Change in Europe, co-investigator, 2002-2004. 

European Commission, Network of Excellence, Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe (DIME). Leader of Open University node, and coordinator of 2 work packages: Finance and Innovation; Innovation and Inequality in Health. 2003-2010.

Recent Publications

Books
Mazzucato, M., Lowe, J., Shipman, A., and Trigg, A., (2010) Personal Investment: Financial Planning in an Uncertain World, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke UK, ISBN-13:978-0-230-24660-7,304 pages.

Mazzucato, M. and G. Dosi (Eds, 2006) Knowledge Accumulation and Industry Evolution: Pharma-Biotech, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, ISBN 0-521-85822-4, 446 pages.

Mazzucato, M. (monograph, 2000), Firm Size, Innovation and Market Structure: The Evolution of Market Concentration and Instability, Edward Elgar, Northampton, MA, ISBN 1-84064-346-3, 138 pages.

Mazzucato, M. (Ed, 2002) Strategy for Business, A Reader, Sage Publications, London, 2002,
ISBN 0-7619-7413-X, 378 pages.

Refereed Journal Articles
Demirel, P. and Mazzucato, M. (2010), "The Evolution of Firm Growth Dynamics in the US Pharmaceutical Industry: Is 'Structure' in the Growth Process Related to Size and Location Dynamics?", Forthcoming February 2010 in Regional Studies

Mazzucato, M. and Tancioni, M. (2008), "Idiosyncratic Risk and Innovation: A Firm and Industry Level Analysis," Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 17 (4): 779-811.

Mazzucato, M (2006), "Innovation and Stock Prices," Revue de L'Observatoire Francais de Conjonctures Economiques," June 2006, Special Issue on Industrial Dynamics, Productivity and Growth.

Mazzucato, M. and Tancioni, M. (2005), "Indices that Capture Creative Destruction: Questions and Implications," Revue d'Economie Industrielle. 110, 2nd trimester: 199-218.

Mazzucato, M. (2003), "Risk, Variety and Volatility: Innovation, Growth and Stock Prices in Old and New Industries," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol. 13 (5): 491-512.

Geroski, P. and Mazzucato, M. (2002), "Learning and the Sources of Corporate Growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 11 (4): 623-644.

Mazzucato, M. (2002), "The PC Industry: New Economy or Early Life-Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol. 5: 318-345.

Geroski, P. and Mazzucato, M. (2002), "Myopic Selection and the Learning Curve," Metroeconomica, Vol. 53 (2):181-199. 

Mazzucato, M. and Semmler, W. (2002), "The Determinants of Stock Price Volatility: An Industry Study," Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, Vol. 6: 230-253.

Mazzucato, M. (2002), "Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics" (Review Article), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 47 (3): 335-341.

Geroski, P. and Mazzucato, M. (2002), "Modelling the Dynamics of Industry Populations," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Vol. 19, 2001: pp. 1003-1022. 

Mazzucato, M. (2000), "Firm Size, Innovation, and Market Share Instability: the Role of Negative Feedback and Idiosyncratic Events," Advances in Complex Systems, Vol. 3: 417-431.

Mazzucato, M. and Semmler, W. (1999), "Stock Market Volatility and Market Share Instability during the US Automobile Industry Life-Cycle," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol. 9, 1999:p. 67-96. 

Mazzucato, M. (1998), "A Computational Model of Economies of Scale and Market Share Instability," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Vol. 9: 55-83.

Papers under review 
Mazzucato, M. and Tancioni, M. (2009), "Stock Price Volatility and Patent Citation Dynamics: the Case of Biotech and Pharma" IKD Discussion Paper 19.

Demirel, P. and Mazzucato, M. (2009), "Does Market Selection Reward Innovators? R&D, patents, and growth in the US pharmaceutical industry," IKD Discussion Paper 33.

Work in progress
Stock Prices and Technological Change: A Schumpetarian View of Bubble Dynamics, Book to be published by Edward Elgar Press.

"Fat tails in growth rates: understanding the 'structure' behind the innovation-growth relationship", with Pelin Demirel.

A repository of research publications and other research outputs can be viewed at The Open University's Open Research Online.

In the media

Television
Academic expert in 'Inside Story', 22 minute TV programme on Toyota Recall and its impact. Presented by Mike Hanna. Produced by Al Jazeera English, first aired prime time on Al Jazeera English TV, 7 February 2010

Key role in the design and development of the film 'Rules of the Game', 30 minute TV film on innovation and the industry life-cycle, Featuring work and interviews by academic experts: Mariana Mazzucato, Paul David, and Clive Sinclair. Presented by PY Gerbeau. Produced by BBC, first aired prime time on BBC2, June 2002.

News
'Is R&D spending worth it?' (forthcoming Spring 2010) - contribution to the 'Excellence in Leadership', the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants business publication

'Who Really Funds Innovation?' (Jan 2010) - analysis piece for GrowthBusiness.co.uk on how 'the state plays a greater role in entrepreneurship than it gets credit for.'

'Economic Insight' column (Jan 2010) - opinion piece on 'to what extent throwing money at funding innovation helps keep a country ahead in the knowledge economy' in the Business XL publication

'Fixing the Broken Innovation Model' (Dec 2009) - opinion piece for Pharmaceutical Executive Europe

'Innovate to Stimulate' (Jan 2010) - article on Prof Mazzucato's inaugural address (25 March 2009): 'Do the best firms always win?' featured in Sesame magazine.

'Economic Recovery is a Slow and Painful Process' (Nov 2009) - Peter Bartram from the Financial Director quoting Professor Mazzucato on the economic growth rate in 2010.

'Winning Advantage Through Innovation' (Nov 2009) - Brett Matthews from the Business Today quoting Professor Mazzucato on why people are not investing and a discussion piece on the relationship between innovation and company growth.

'Study Probes Role of Finance in the Economy' (July 2009) - Market Research Industry Online highlights FINNOV, the OU grant awarded by the European Commission (www.finnov-fp7.eu), led by Mariana Mazzucato

Copyright: Open University
Photographer credit: Kelly Cooper