An economy for people not just for business

What a week for the economic anorak. We now have two weighty tomes on the economy to give us all the answers about our economic future. But unfortunately we don’t. On Monday media analysis of the report by the IFS told us we’re all doomed under independence. We’ll inherit too much debt, we’ve have too many old people and not enough young people to pay tax to keep them in the style and health they’ve become accustomed to and income North Sea Oil will reduce significantly. So, we have to cut public spending or raise taxes. But it’s not just a Scottish problem, the UK is in only slightly better off. So, as someone succinctly said to me this week, “We’re up the shit creek and the only argument is about who’s holding the paddle”. As Peter Jones said in the Scotsman all of this is challengeable. I agree, and to be fair to the IFS, so do they. All the doom people predict from their report – an extrapolation of current figures – will only come to pass if we continue do more of the same or do nothing. The IFS’ very large caveat is: if we put the right strategy in place and policies into practice, none of this would happen. If only. Then on Tuesday we had the other side of the economic equation – “independence could spark jobs boom” according to the BBC. While it includes a lot of more consensual detail and a very presentable critique of where we are, it doesn’t move us on from the same economic paradigm. The Scottish Government is persisting with the same economic strategy which caused the crash in the first and it needs to do more than recognise the need to do things differently – it needs to actually do it. This also applies to the UK Government and Better Together. How are they going to get us out of this? But whether we vote for independence or more powers, we need to reform our core economic model to one which works for the people of Scotland not just for business. We need to see an interconnected social and economic strategy.

But whether we vote for independence or more powers, we need to reform our core economic model to one which works for the people of Scotland not just for business.

When the great and the good of the economic and academic establishment gathered to consider all this at a David Hume Event this week, it was so self-congratulatory that my frustration showed. I asked a question that no one in the audience cared about: Doesn’t all this mean we need to rethink and change our core business model? Heresy! Did I really think this audience was interested in the fact that successive UK and Scottish Government economic policy – with advice from many in the room – has patently failed to get people out of endemic and generational poverty in this country. No, most of them don’t – they were just a few notable exceptions in the room. Not surprisingly I got a poor response from Prof David Bell from Stirling University and Kenny Gibson MSP, chair of the finance committee. “What model?” they asked, “Germany?” mused David, both missing the point completely. The answer, guys, is a new socio-economic model that works for the people not just business and economists. Have you never heard of the Common Weal or the Oxfam Humankind Index? At a recent SCVO event reported by TFN, the esteemed economist, Stephen Boyle, of the RBS proved that there is still hope. Like Stephen, I believe in growing our economy. Getting a decent job is still the best way out of poverty but what our politicians, policy-makers and economists tend to forget is that this isn’t an experiment. The economy is about real people and their lives. Yes, we need economic growth but we also need to think about social justice and designing the economy for people.