Council of Economic Advisers

21 Sep 2007 04:40 PM

Scotland's new Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) meets for the first time today.

The CEA has been created to directly advise the First Minister on the best way to improve the country's sustainable economic growth rate.

Ahead of the meeting the First Minister Alex Salmond said:

"I truly believe that this will be the greatest group of intellectual talent ever assembled to advise on the Scottish economy. We are serious about tackling Scottish economic underperformance and we now have the top minds supporting us to do just that.

"Over the next two years the CEA will challenge accepted wisdoms and directly advise me on how we can achieve our goal of raising Scotland's growth rate to the UK level by 2011."

The CEA will be chaired by Sir George Mathewson and will:

• Advise the First Minister directly about the best way to improve Scotland's sustainable economic growth
• Have quarterly meetings to consider the publication of the quarterly growth figures
• Publish an annual report providing expert commentary on the Scottish economy

The first meeting, at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the CEA will hear an assessment of Scotland's economic growth performance from Dr Andrew Goudie, Chief Economic Adviser to the Scottish Government.

It will then discuss drivers of growth with the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary John Swinney. This is part of the Cabinet Secretary's wider conversations on the Government economic strategy.

The CEA will also consider the importance of planning to economic growth and hear from the Scottish Government's Chief Planner Jim Mackinnon.

CEA Membership:

Sir George Mathewson (Chair)

Perhaps the most eminent Scottish businessman of his generation. His period as Chief Executive and then Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland inspired the transformation of the bank into a global success story. Sir George previously also spent 6 years as the chief executive of the Scottish Development Agency.

Frances Cairncross

Rector of Exeter College at Oxford University. Previously she worked for 20 years on 'The Economist' magazine. She chaired the Economic and Social Research Council for six years until 2007 and is a well respected author whose works include 'Costing the Earth' and 'Green, inc'.

Sir Robert Smith

Chairman of the Weir Group and Scottish and Southern Energy. He also serves as a non-executive director of 3i group, Standard Bank Group and Aegon UK. Sir Robert also chairs the Smith Group, a group of dedicated educators and business and civic leaders who are determined to offer more opportunities to young Scots.

Professor Andrew Hughes Hallett

Professor of Economics and Public Policy at George Mason University in the US and visiting Professor of Economics at the University of St Andrews. He specialises in international economic policy and has acted as a consultant for the World Bank, the IMF, the Federal Reserve Board, the UN, the OECD, the European Commission and central banks around the world.

Professor Alex Kemp

Schlumberger Professor of Petroleum Economics at the University of Aberdeen. He is a leading energy and taxation expert who has advised the World Bank, the United Nations, and individual governments around the world. In recent times, Professor Kemp has expanded his research to include the economics of renewable energy and how best to foster carbon capture.

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.

Professor Frances Ruane

Director of Ireland's Economic and Social Research Institute having been as Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. She is widely published in the area of international economic and industrial development.

Professor John Kay

One of Britain's leading economists. The author of several influential books, Professor Kay is a regular contributor to the Financial Times. He is a fellow of St John's College, Oxford and served as Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He has served as a Professor at the London Business School and the University of Oxford. He is currently a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.

Crawford Beveridge

Executive Vice President and Chairman of Sun Microsystems in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. From 1991 to 2000, Crawford Beveridge served as Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise. He brings a wealth of international business experience.

Professor Finn Kydland

Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in dynamic macroeconomics.

Professor Sir James Mirrlees

Professor Emeritus at Cambridge University and distinguished professor-at-large at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sir James was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on economic models and equations about situations where information is asymmetrical or incomplete.