“What world do you want to live in?” asks Mariana Mazzucato, a revolutionary economist who reminds politicians that they themselves, not big business, decide the shape of the world. She stubbornly argues that boldness and imagination and a sense of mission have always been more important than profit – and shall remain so.

Hailed “the world’s scariest economist”, Mazzucato admits that she likes this nickname and has learned to use it to her advantage. It was coined on the occasion of an interview with a woman journalist who presented the economist in a positive light, but her male editor colleagues gave the text its dreadful, attention-grabbing title. According to Mazzucato, this anecdote perfectly reflects the mindset of today’s elites, who have made capitalism toxic. Luckily, we can change this, she argues with a smile, reminding us of common sense and the freedom of choice. She discusses the economy as a part of human history – although her analyses rely on figures and specialist terms, they also convince us that behind every number there stands a living being whose decisions have tangible consequences, regardless of whether the latter result from far-reaching plans or cynical ploys, good or bad choices, failures or gaffes. Her appearances are captivating due to her vigorous and fact-based style of delivery. It is as if she were writing a realist novel with a Tolstoian love for people and belief in them.

Calling a spade a spade, Mazzucato recalls dictionary definitions of terms such as value, innovation and sharing. Analysing such concepts, she deconstructs the way in which the economy has been traditionally presented. Much like other progressive thinkers, she argues that it is high time we dispensed with the fairy tale shrouding global capitalism. Pointing out the stratagems employed by late-capitalist elites, she exposes the corporate lingo, deliberately obscure and full of theory, as well as the lexicon of dogmas we have been fed by neoliberals since the 1980s (chiefly the claim that the free market and unlimited profit from capital have no alternative). Today, this ideological monolith is crumbling under pressure from a variety of economists, but the 54-year-old Mazzucato has one advantage that could be really dangerous to the status quo: she is highly persuasive. Many politicians are paying close attention to what she has to say, among them the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, British political party leaders, Italian Prime Ministers, the Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, American congresswomen (including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, co-author of