FAI Director Mairi Spowage and Deputy Director João Sousa join economist Jack Williamson to discuss the latest economic data, Scottish Budget Report, and key dates in 2025. The trio are then joined my FAI economists Allison Catalano, Hannah Randolph, and Ben Cooper to discuss some of the FAI’s most interesting outputs in 2024.
Episode Notes
PARTICIPANTS
Mairi Spowage, Director, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
Dr João Sousa, Deputy Director, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
Jack Williamson. Associate Economist, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
Allison Catalano, Economics Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
Dr Hannah Randolph, Economics Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
Ben Cooper, Economics Fellow, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
TIMESTAMPS
(00:36) Inflation data and MPC expectations
(07:45) GDP growth
(11:00) Scottish Budget Report developments
(20:08) Other fiscal news in 2025
(22:01) Allison and Mairi discuss air quality research
(26:20) Hannah and Mairi discuss the Scottish Child Payment and foodbank usage
(31:45) Ben and Mairi discuss Economic Futures
(35:40) Live! Scottish GDP data published during the podcast
Authors
Jack is an associate economist at the Fraser of Allander Institute.
Mairi is the Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute. Previously, she was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Head of National Accounts at the Scottish Government and has over a decade of experience working in different areas of statistics and analysis.
João is Deputy Director and Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. Previously, he was a Senior Fiscal Analyst at the Office for Budget Responsibility, where he led on analysis of long-term sustainability of the UK's public finances and on the effect of economic developments and fiscal policy on the UK's medium-term outlook.
Allison is a Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. She specialises in health, socioeconomic inequality and labour market dynamics.
Hannah is a Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. She specialises in applied social policy analysis with a focus on social security, poverty and inequality, labour supply, and immigration.
Ben is an Economist Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute working across a number of projects areas. He has a Masters in Economics from the University of Edinburgh, and a degree in Economics from the University of Strathclyde.
His main areas of focus are economic policy, social care and criminal justice in Scotland. Ben also co-edits the quarter Economic Commentary and has experience in business survey design and dissemination.