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Event details
Lightwell & St Martin’s Hall
St Martin-in-the-Fields
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 4JJ
United Kingdom
In this our 80th anniversary year, we're delighted to have the Christian Aid Annual Lecture delivered by Mariana Mazzucato.
Mariana Mazzucato is Professor at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). Her highly acclaimed books include The Entrepreneurial State, The Value of Everything, Mission Economy, and The Big Con.
The Christian Aid Annual Lecture is part of the St Martin-in-the-Fields critically acclaimed Autumn Lecture series which, this year, takes the words of Martin Luther ‘Here I am Stand; I can do no other’ as its theme for speakers.
Watch: 2025 Christian Aid Annual Lecture
Directing Economic Growth: A Common Good Approach
Title: An Economics of the Common Good
In our interconnected world of climate crisis, rising inequality, and global health challenges, we face a profound question: can we create economic systems that truly serve people and planet? This lecture argues that achieving a just economic order requires moving beyond the narrow pursuit of GDP growth toward embracing an economics of the common good as a practical framework for economic governance. Unlike the traditional concept of 'public goods' that merely corrects market failures, the common good represents a proactive approach where how we achieve our goals matters as much as what we achieve—emphasising collective participation, shared purpose, and equitable distribution of both risks and rewards.
Drawing on lessons from global crises—from COVID-19 vaccine development to climate action—this talk will explore how governments can move from being passive market correctors to active co-creators of value that serves humanity. In our 21st century, creating economies that work for the common good is not just an economic imperative—it is a moral one that speaks to our fundamental responsibility to one another and to future generations.
About Mariana Mazzucato
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. 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 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.
In 2025, she was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to economics in the King’s Birthday Honours List. Pope Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Academy for Life for bringing ‘more humanity’ to the world.
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As well as The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013), she is the author of The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018), Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021), and most recently The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies (2023).
She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her roles have included for example 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, a member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, and the Co-Chair of the Group of Experts to the G20 Task Force for the Global Mobilization against Climate Change.