Council of Economic Advisers

A body created by The Scottish Government made up of the incoming SNP administration in June 2007.There is also a US version of this the Council of Economic Advisers (US)

People

Members

1. 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 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 and 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.