We continue our journey to discover how the economy really works and provide nourishment for independent minds.
Hello and welcome to the Scotonomics podcast.
We offer a space for detailed, thoughtful discussions on our economy, ecosystem and our society. We are regularly joined by academics, activists, economists, policymakers, and politicians. They join William Thomson and his occasional co-host, Kairin van Sweeden, to discuss people, place and planet.
Scotonomics by name and nature, we do, however, often spread our wings to cover economic and social issues outside of Scotland and the UK.
Settle down as we invite you to join us on our journey to discover how the economy really works.
We all know that something is wrong with the way that the economy is currently working and we will find out why. We pose challenging questions to leading academics, activists, economists, policymakers, and politicians from across the globe as we explore the myths and, in many cases, the lies that govern our lives in a modern economy.
Scotonomics is essential for anyone with an interest in heterodox economics with a particular focus on Scotland, Europe and the UK.
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Many voters in both Scotland and Wales seek to gain independence from the same Union. Progressive ideals underpin both independence movements, and both are social movements. But the similarities don't end there. Our economic position on day one of independence will be very similar.
In both nations, there is a history of colonial conquest and resource extraction.
By becoming independent, both movements aim to create a more prosperous, fair, and just society.
Both nations are in desperate need of significant public expenditure, especially in transportation, telecommunications, housing stock, and infrastructure to support electrification.
Both nations can be empowered by insights from Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to become monetary independent governments, issuing their own currency on the day of independence.
After independence, both governments have the potential to manage and regulate their own financial services sectors, which can be designed for public rather than profit purposes.
And they face the same challenges. Including maintaining a strong relationship with their largest trading partner, England, withstanding price swings in international commodity markets, and building energy, food, and technological independence.
On this episode, Kairin and I were joined by Mark Hooper, a Plaid Cymru councillor from Barry and a candidate for the 2026 Welsh Senedd.
Link to the report mentioned in the interview.
https://www.stuc.org.uk/news/news/offshore-and-onshore-wind-creates-one-job-in-a-million-according-to-new-analysis1/
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6 Nov 2025
The Economic Impact of Adopting the EU's SGP in an Independent Scotland
Upon independence, the current Scottish government's plan risks undermining the very purpose of independence: the ability to design institutions tailored to Scotland’s needs.
Assuming Scotland becomes independent within the next few years, it would likely take at least a decade before it could formally join the EU. Aligning institutions too readily with EU frameworks from the outset would mean forfeiting the flexibility to create institutions that serve Scotland’s best interests in the early years of independence. An independent Scotland requires fiscal flexibility, not self-imposed rules from a bloc it does not yet belong to.
The Scottish Government argues that independence will allow Scotland to “tailor policy to Scotland’s needs; build greater equality and wellbeing; and become more resilient” (Scottish Government 2022, p. 6). We fully agree—this is the fundamental case for independence. An independent Scotland has all of the necessary resources, skills, and institutional capacity to enable its citizens to prosper.
This paper, on which this presentation is based, demonstrates the value of rigorous, independent research into how economic choices, especially those made in the early years of independence, will influence Scotland’s long-term prosperity. We argue throughout the paper that, as part of the United Kingdom, Scotland’s economy is poorly served, but our principal concern is the current economic vision for independence as outlined by the Scottish government.
Presentation delivered at the 2025 Scottish Currency Group conference. As such, there were slides that I refer to. So please visit: https://scotonomics.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SUMMARY-What-Our-Paper-Means-for-Scotlands-Economy.pdf to download the summary report which includes Scotland's Sectoral Balances.
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21 Sept 2025
How does a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) lens explain austerity in the NHS
Tackling health inequality in the UK: enabling people to live healthier lives, and rebuilding an NHS and care system that works for everyone. Considering how the MMT lens can empower NHS staff and the general public to demand more money for the UK's health services. A fantastic hour-long panel session.
Presentation from the MML UK Anti-Austerity conference in Bristol. September 2025.
Chaired by William Thomson, Political Economists, Scotonomics, alongside Dr. Jaideep Pandit (professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Oxford) and Emma Hughes (Just Treatment).
Welcome to our panel on health and the NHS as we frame the choices made by staff and patients within the context of fiscal austerity.
We will concentrate on fiscal austerity, which is the desire to reduce day-to-day spending on services like the NHS to reduce the government debt.
This desire to shrink the government deficit by reducing services ensures that this can only be met by shrinking our net financial wealth. On top of fiscal austerity, there are two other forms of austerity that affect our wellbeing: Industrial and monetary austerity.
Industrial austerity is structural. Our institutions are created and molded to ensure low wages, high unemployment, and de-industrialisation. By design, this leads to higher profits, the offshoring of negative environmental harm, precarious contracts, and hundreds of thousands of bullshit jobs. I am sure we will touch on this as we address low pay and conditions for many NHS staff.
Finally, we have monetary austerity. Although we won’t cover this in the conversation coming up, I want to explain this form of austerity as it provides context for our talk this morning.
Monetary austerity means generally high interest rates. The issue is magnified when interest is paid on reserves held by private banks at the Bank of England. Monetary austerity ensures that interest-bearing bonds (often inflation-linked - an idea that only sticks to borrowing from the wealthiest in society) represent a significant injection of purchasing power into the economy.
Want to know how significant?
Almost 160 billion pounds has been paid in interest on government borrowing in the last twelve months. All of this is paid as interest to the wealthiest in the country. That figure again in case you are still in shock, according to the ONS, is £160 billion.
Why is this context important? Last year, the NHS budget in England was only 30 billion more! It was £188.5 billion.
Now consider the debate and the discussions around the waste and unsustainability of NHS spending - money that literally improves wellbeing and saves lives - to the level of awareness around a very similar amount that is funnelled to those who have enough spare cash to secure, interest-guaranteed government liabilities. Where is the outrage? The calls for privatization? The Think Tanks analysing every £?
Context is important.
This huge sum (which is completely unnecessary) is never questioned. But every pound we spend on our NHS is scrutinised.
The government could direct perhaps £100 billion a year to the NHS without increasing its debt. All it would have to do is to switch off interest on new government debt and add 50% to the NHS budget.
It chooses not to do this. The MMT lens helps us understand why.
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