The Big Con

US: Allen Lane, 2023. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting.The spine remains undamaged. There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today which must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies' reliance on companies such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY stunts innovation, obfuscates corporate and political accountability and impedes our collective mission of halting climate break down. The 'Big Con' describes the confidence trick the consulting industry perfor ms in contracts with hollowed-out and risk-averse governments and sharehold er value-maximizing firms. It grew from the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of reforms by both the neoliberal right and Third Way progressives, and it thr ives on the ills of modern capitalism, from financialization and privatizat ion to the climate crisis. It is possible because of the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks - as advis ors, legitimators and outsourcers - and the illusion that they are objectiv e sources of expertise and capacity. To make matters worse, our best and br ightest graduates are often redirected away from public service into consul ting. In all these ways, the Big Con weakens our businesses, infantilizes o ur governments and warps our economies. Mazzucato and Collington expertly debunk the myth that consultancies always add value to the economy. With a wealth of original research, they argue brilliantly for investment and collecti.