Fraser of Allander Institute Blog

A round-up of Coronavirus policy announcements that affect Scotland

This has been a week like no other, and we’ve seen a raft of announcements on measures from both the UK Government and the Scottish Government to try and delay the spread of COVID-19 and to help cushion the severe impact that those restrictions will have on households and businesses. These are unprecedented announcements, of a type and scale not seen before in Britain.

Devolution means of course that we have two governments who are announcing measures that impact on Scottish business and daily life. Some of the measures announced by the UK Government impact on Scotland, but others require the Scottish Government to decide how to use any consequentials triggered by UK announcements. In many cases, we’ve seen very similar policy announced north of the border albeit translated slightly to reflect differences in existing policy design.

Here is a round-up of what has been announced so far in relation to COVID-19 that will impact firms and individuals in Scotland.Continue reading

The implications of school closures for parents…

The First Minister announced Wednesday that all schools and nurseries in Scotland will close indefinitely from Friday 20^th March.

This means that there could potentially be 12 weeks¹ between Friday and the end of June – when schools break up for summer holidays – in which parents will have to find alternative childcare arrangements for their children.

Supporting people through the economic impact of Coronavirus

The additional £330 billion made available by the Chancellor yesterday was a further attempt to put businesses on a surer footing. The announcement by the Prime Minister, asking people to refrain from visiting pubs, restaurants and entertainment venues has put a lot of hospitality businesses facing severe financial hardship, and it’s likely that substantial job losses will result unless steps are put in place to prevent this. This blog looks at the repercussions of this and what could be done.

Both from an economic and societal point of view, there is a clear case for acting to prevent job losses now.Continue reading

Latest Scottish GDP data and the economic impact of Coronavirus – Podcast

In this podcast, Graeme Roy – Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute – and Mairi Spowage – Deputy Director of the FAI – first take a look at the data released today on Scottish economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2019.

Following this is a discussion of the potential economic impacts of Coronavirus and associated policy responses.

The coronavirus and household incomes: liquidity constrained households in Scotland

Frantisek Brocek

The coronavirus outbreak – and the public health response – will have a range of impacts upon the economy, and on individuals whose livelihoods will be impacted.

One issue, particular when asking those self-employed to forgo income by self-isolating or asking others to scale back their day-to-day activities, will be how it impacts upon family budgets.

A concern that policymakers will be mindful of, and will no doubt be looking to develop a response to, will be how to support households who may be most vulnerable to any fall-off in income.