Independence: The Economy
Reflections on the Economics of Constitutional Change
Professor Andrew Goudie, Visiting Professor and Special Adviser to the Principal, University of Strathclyde
Professor Goudie
is a former Chief
Economic Adviser
to the Scottish
Government, and
a former Chief
Economist at the
UK Department
for International
Development.
Previously, he
worked at the
Department
of Applied
Economics,
University of
Cambridge, and as
Senior Economist
at the World Bank.
See www.rsgs.org/
publications for a
longer version of
this article.
With only a few months to go
until the referendum, there
is inevitably great heat in
the debate over the future
constitution of Scotland: the
stakes are massive for the UK
and its constituent regions, for
Scotland and its people, for the
political parties and, not least,
for the personalities leading the
campaigns. But are the critical
economic questions that should
shape the outcome of the
referendum – and the discussion
surrounding all the constitutional
arrangements that entail
increased economic powers –
sharply defined? Is there, indeed,
any consensus about what they
are? Moreover, is there any sense
of agreement across the political
divide on at least some of the
answers to our key economic
questions? Or, rather, have
we failed to narrow down the
crucial areas of dispute upon
which we might have usefully
focused our thinking? As a brave
generalisation, I would suggest
that the key questions ar H