The Scottish economy [August 1984]

Kirwan, Frank and Buchanan, Bob and Draper, Paul and Heeley, John and Jenkins, Iain and Love, James and McGilvray, James and McNicolI, Iain and O'Donnell, Noreen and Simpson, David and Stevens, Jim and Walker, Jim (1984) The Scottish economy [August 1984]. Quarterly Economic Commentary, 10 (1). pp. 17-55. ISSN 2046-5378

[thumbnail of FEC_10_1_1984_Scottish_Economy]
Preview
Text. Filename: FEC_10_1_1984_Scottish_Economy.pdf
Final Published Version

Download (1MB)| Preview

Abstract

Throughout much of the last two years the official view has been that the Scottish recession was less severe than that experienced in the United Kingdom as a whole. Indeed, the Secretary of State has proclaimed to a variety of audiences, including the House of Commons, that Scotland was, and still is , leading the country out of recession. This diagnosis has not met with universal approval, as it appears to be founded primarily on the growth of the Scottish electronics sector and on the smaller proportionate rise in unemployment which has occurred in Scotland than in Britain as a whole. This latter fact is not particularly surprising as the pre-recession level of unemployment in Scotland was markedly above that of the rest of Britain.