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First Minister announces five new members of Council of Economic Advisers.

Aligning competitive economic growth and equality is crucial if Scotland is to build on the relative success of recent years and face up to the challenges that lie ahead, according to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Ahead of the seventh meeting of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), the first under First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, five new members have been announced to support the Scottish Government’s efforts to promote inclusive growth while tackling inequalities. The Council, scheduled to meet in Edinburgh next week, are being tasked with ensuring the policy mix is right for delivery the new Economic Strategy.

New members of the CEA appointed directly by the First Minister are:

• Sir Harry Burns ‒ Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Strathclyde and former Chief Medical Officer for Scotland
• Professor Sara Carter ‒ Professor of Entrepreneurship and Associate Deputy Principal of the University of Strathclyde, and member of the Scottish Government's Strategic Group on Women and Work
• Professor Mariana Mazzucato ‒ RM Philips Professor in the Economics of Innovation, SPRU, University of Sussex. Professor Mazzucato advises the UK Government and the European Commission on innovation-led growth
• Amanda McMillan – Managing Director at Glasgow Airport and Chief Executive of AGS Airports Limited. A Non-Executive Director of Business Stream, and serves as a member on the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
• Professor Anton Muscatelli - Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, academic economist and former consultant to the World Bank and the European Commission

The CEA meet bi-annually and have provided advice on issues covering childcare and its importance to the economy, Scotland’s international presence and outlook, entrepreneurship and the importance of education and skills.

The First Minster said:

“The Council’s focus on competitiveness and reducing inequality reflects the fact that these are crucial areas if Scotland is to build on the relative success of recent years and face up to the challenges that lie ahead.

“To support this focus, I have invited five new members to join the group, which I believe has a provided a strong balance of expertise for achieving both objectives. I am pleased to be able to draw on international expertise relating to these issues with existing Members such as Professors Stiglitz, Mirrlees and Ruane whilst the addition of Professors Muscatelli, Mazzacuto and Carter add expertise on areas including innovation, inequality and entrepreneurship, coupled with the unique perspective of Sir Harry Burns (former Chief Medical officer for Scotland) and, of course, the business expertise of Jim McColl and Amanda McMillan.

“The Scottish Government and our Council of Economic Advisers face a challenge, one that we are determined to rise to, and that is how we better align the objective of economic growth with a fairer and more inclusive economy which maximises the potential of all people within Scotland. This is not an issue specific to Scotland given international trends but is particularly pertinent for Scotland given the financial backdrop of the UK Government’s austerity measures and the impact that these have had on individuals, families and on crucial public services.”

CEA Chair Crawford Beveridge CBE said:

“I am delighted to continue to Chair the Council of Economic Advisers and, in advance of our first meeting next week, the First Minister has set out a clear remit for us to advise upon on. Improving the competitiveness of the Scottish economy remains central to our work but aligning the objective of economic growth more closely with the need to tackle inequality and ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate is really important as we have seen a growing disparity in these outcomes internationally. It is an honour to work with such a distinguished group and to help shape government policy relating to these important objectives.”

Professor Joseph Stiglitz added:

“Inequality has risen in many developed countries in recent decades, and there is a strong body of evidence that this is harmful to growth and society more generally. Tackling inequality is the foremost challenge that many governments face. I look forward to advising on this agenda as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers”.

Notes To Editors

Membership of the Council of Economic Advisers draws upon a range of knowledge and expertise and consists of leading figures from the private sector and academia. There is no set size for the council and further additions may be announced to the membership in due course. 

Full biography of the Council of Economic Advisers:

Crawford Beveridge (Chair) – Crawford Beveridge is a technology industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience. This included working as an Executive at Sun Microsystems for over 15 years. In 1991, Beveridge left Sun to become Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise. Beveridge returned to Sun in April 2000 as Executive Vice President of People and Places and Chief Human Resources Officer. In addition to being the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Autodesk, Beveridge is Chairman of Scottish Equity Partners Ltd, and a Non-executive board member of eSilicon and iomart Group PLC. He was awarded a C.B.E. in the New Years Honours list in 1995.

Sir Harry Burns ‒ Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Strathclyde and former Chief Medical Officer for Scotland. Sir Harry holds a leadership position within the International Prevention Research Institute. He was previously appointed as Honorary Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer in Surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow and was also Greater Glasgow’s Public Health Director. Sir Harry has been a key figure in tackling Scotland’s health inequalities. He was knighted in 2011.

Professor Sara Carter ‒ Professor of Entrepreneurship and Associate Deputy Principal of the University of Strathclyde. Sara Carter is a member of the UK Enterprise Research Centre, the Scottish Government's Strategic Group on Women and Work, co-Chair of the British Bankers' Association Diversity & Inclusion Business Council, and Non-Executive Director of Women's Enterprise Scotland. She has also served on the UK Government's Women's Enterprise Task Force and received an OBE for her services to women entrepreneurs.

Professor Mariana Mazzucato ‒ RM Philips Professor in the Economics of Innovation, SPRU, University of Sussex. Professor Mazzucato advises the UK government and the European Commission on innovation-led growth and she is currently a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Economics of Innovation for the World Economic Forum. Her research focuses on the relationship between financial markets, innovation and economic growth. Her recent book, The Entrepreneurial State: debunking private vs. public sector myths, focuses on the need to develop new frameworks to understand the role of the state in economic growth – and how to enable the rewards from innovation to be just as ’social’ as the risks taken. She is winner of the 2014 New Statesman SPERI Prize in Political Economy and in 2013 the New Republic called her one of the ‘three most important thinkers about innovation’.

Jim McColl - Chairman and Chief Executive of Clyde Blowers - a company transformed under his leadership into a portfolio of global engineering companies. He also serves as Chairman of the Welfare to Work Forum which has seen 15,000 Scots enter employment.

Amanda McMillan – Managing Director at Glasgow Airport and Chief Executive of AGS Airports Limited. Amanda McMillan is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has spent time in manufacturing, professional practice and lecturing. In addition to being a Non-Executive Director of Business Stream, she currently serves as a member on the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, ICAS Council, and the Adam Smith Business School Strategic Advisory Board, University of Glasgow. In 2013, Amanda McMillan received an OBE in recognition of services to business and tourism.

Professor Sir James Mirrlees - Professor Emeritus at Cambridge University and distinguished professor-at-large at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 1996 Sir James was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on economic models and equations about situations where information is asymmetrical or incomplete. In 2010, he led the Mirrlees Review of taxation which examined the principles and characteristics of a good tax system for open developed economies in the 21st century.

Professor Anton Muscatelli - Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow since 2009. Former Principal and Vice Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University. Professor Muscatelli has been a consultant to the World Bank and the European Commission, and chaired an independent expert group for the future financing of devolution for the Calman Commission. In 2007-10 he was an advisor on monetary policy to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and he has recently been appointed to Chair the Commission of Urban Economic Growth for the new Glasgow City Region. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Academician in the Learned Societies of the Social Sciences, and President of the David Hume Institute.

Professor Frances Ruane - Director of Ireland's Economic and Social Research Institute previously an Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. She is widely published in the area of international economic and industrial development.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz - Professor Stiglitz is Professor of Economics at Columbia University. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 and was a member of the US Council of Economic Advisers from 1993-95, serving as CEA Chair from 1995-97. He was Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 1997-2000. In 2009 he was appointed by the President of the United Nations General Assembly as Chair of the Commission of Experts on Reform of the International Financial and Monetary System.