A leading academic has been named as one of the most engaging thinkers in modern economics.

Professor Mariana Mazzucato, of the University of Sussex, was awarded for her work on the “entrepreneurial state” and innovation in the public sector.

Prof Mazzucato, right, is a leading voice in the economics of innovation. She said: “I am honoured and delighted to receive the New Statesman SPERI prize, especially given the high calibre of the shortlist.

“I hope it will help focus attention on the urgent need to tackle rising inequality. This is not just about tax: we need to fundamentally rethink how we talk about wealth creation.

“Ignoring the key role of the state or the taxpayer in wealth creation has, in my view, been a lead cause of inequality, allowing some hyped-up actors to reap a rate of return way beyond their actual contribution.”

The inaugural New Statesman SPERI (Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute) prize in political economy will be awarded every two years to the scholar who brings the most original and critical ideas to a wider public audience.

Judges said this year’s shortlist of six people contained “some of the most innovative and exciting thinkers” in the field. The shortlist included Ha-Joon Chang, from the University of Cambridge, Thomas Piketty, from the Paris School of Economics, Wolfgang Streeck, from the Max Planck Institute, Cologne, Anne Wren, from Trinity College Dublin, and Simon Wren-Lewis, from the University of Oxford.

Prof Mazzucato’s influential 2013 book The Entrepreneurial State debunked the myth of an innovative private sector versus a static bureaucratic state and her popular talk on the subject has now been viewed online more than 600,000 times.

The panel of judges praised the originality of her thinking, her “willingness to challenge the conventional wisdom” and her capacity to “take her arguments forward with gusto”.

Prof Mazzucato will deliver The New Statesman SPERI Prize Lecture at the Emmanuel Centre in London at 6.30pm on Thursday, November 13.

She will deliver her talk on ‘Smart growth: an innovative way to tackle inequality’.