Smart countries are the ones creating and shaping their own markets | Mariana Mazzucato

Last week in Fortaleza, Brazil, the five Brics nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa finally signed a deal to create a $50bn new development bank and a $100bn contingent reserve arrangement. The new financial institutions are seen by many as nothing less than a challenge to the existing financial world order led by the IMF and the World Bank.

These new institutions have many hurdles to overcome before they can be established, but perhaps their greatest challenge is the one they pose to entrenched thinking. Why have any intervention of this scale if growth, as many argue, is mainly driven by private finance and privatebusiness?