SENIOR economists have backed a new economic model for Scotland’s post-coronavirus economy outlined in a report published today.

The study, Resilience Economics, sets out details of a framework designed to help the country recover as quickly as possible from Covid – but also to be better able to withstand future shocks, whether they be pandemics or the impacts of climate change.

Published by the pro-independence think tank Common Weal, it argues the current economic model based on growing GDP is not sufficient to deal with crises and that the pandemic has exposed some of its vulnerabilities.

It says weaknesses include high levels of inequality, low pay, high household debt, high levels of job insecurity, as well as a weak manufacturing sector. It also argues domestic businesses are being forced out by big business.

The report says these weaknesses can be addressed by moving to a different approach which puts quality of life as the measure of success.

“A resilient economy starts with sufficiency and security for all, giving people confidence that they will be able to live a good life now and in the future. It needs the economy to be useful, doing things we actually need done.

“It needs to be non-extractive, reinvesting profits rather than exporting them. There must be definancialisation so banks serve the economy and not the other way round,” it says, spelling out what would underpin the new economic model.

“It will be circular and shared, ending the destructive cycle of waste. It is an economy which will be designed, not planned but shaped democratically to deliver for citizens. It absolutely must be equalised – there is no resilience in inequality ... But one other thing is also crucial – it must be better for people and they must have hope that the future does not inevitably mean a fall in their quality of life.”

It goes on to argue the resilience economic model would take as its starting point the need to provide people with essential food and services such as health, transport, education, energy, housing and communications, and that these should not be left to operate under the free market.

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The report also recommends that wealth must be kept in local economies by favouring businesses owned in that economy which use local supply chains and reinvest profits into the local economy.

It underlines the key importance of “green manufacturing” which it says would lead to the creation of high-quality jobs.

Costas Lapavitsas, professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Mike Danson, professor of enterprise policy at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, and Giorgos Kallis, ecological economist and research professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies in Barcelona are among the economists endorsing the report.

They also include Steve Keen, professor of economics and head of the School of Economic, Politics and History at Kingston University.

The report comes amid an ongoing debate on how to rebuild the global economy and develop a more inclusive society following the pandemic.

It was welcomed by the co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland, Katherine Trebeck. She said: “We urgently need to re-purpose the economy. It has never been clearer that we have a fragile and vulnerable economy that hurts many people and the very world we exist in. We rely on the resilience of individuals and our planet to make this system seem viable. Instead, we need a system that respects and protects human society and our environment.

“This document brings together a set of ideas, including measuring success based on people’s wellbeing to show we have a solid, tested foundation on which to do this.”

Common Weal director Robin McAlpine said: “The pandemic is a dry-run for what is coming soon because of climate change.

“This is our chance to change how we do things.

“If that change doesn’t happen, our economy will fall over in every crisis, just like the dotcom crash, the banking crisis and the pandemic emergency. It’s time to learn our lesson.”