The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy

　　倫敦大學學院經濟學家馬里亞納•馬祖卡托 (Mariana Mazzucato)長期關注與研究新創企業與新興產業，她於前作 The Entrepreneurial State 中，提出政府部門其實更能勝任市場創造者的角色，較私部門能負擔更多風險並投資新創產業，獲得廣大迴響。新書 The Value of Everything 入更核心的命題–價值的定義。

　　現代資本主義中，價值萃取（value-extraction，吸收利潤，從股東分紅到銀行家獎金）比價值創造（value-creation，驅動健康經濟與社會的生產過程）能得到更高的報酬。像大型製藥公司為了最大化股東價值，「價值定價」了高額價格的藥品。我們錯把製造者(maker) 與接收者 (taker) 混淆了，並失去了價值真正的意義。何為價值？它的重要性為何？

　　如果我們需要改革資本主義–從根本上改變日益惡化的體系而非繼續供養它–我們必須重新思考財富的來源。哪些活動創造財富、萃取財富、破壞財富？如果我們想要替換掉目前寄生的制度，換成一種更永續、更共生的資本主義，那上述的答案就是關鍵。對於不放棄追求更好生活的人，The Value of Everything 將重燃我們對於目前社經運作方式的思索與辯論。（文 / 博客來編譯）

　　Who really creates wealth in our world? And how do we decide the value of what they do? At the heart of today’s financial and economic crisis is a problem hiding in plain sight. In modern capitalism, value-extraction - the siphoning off of profits, from shareholders’ dividends to bankers’ bonuses - is rewarded more highly than value-creation: the productive process that drives a healthy economy and society. We misidentify takers as makers, and have lost sight of what value really means. Once a central plank of economic thought, this concept of value - what it is, why it matters to us - is simply no longer discussed.

　　Yet, argues Mariana Mazzucato in this penetrating and passionate new book, if we are to reform capitalism - to radically transform an increasingly sick system rather than continue feeding it - we urgently need to rethink where wealth comes from. Who is creating it, who is extracting it, and who is destroying it? Answers to these questions are key if we want to replace the current parasitic system with a type of capitalism that is more sustainable, more symbiotic: that works for us all. The Value of Everything will reignite a long-needed debate about the kind of world we really want to live in.