Ashcroft Brian Prof

Biographical Information

A graduate of the University of Lancaster, he lectured in the Department for several years before becoming Editor of the Fraser Institute's Quarterly Economic Commentary. In April 1989 he was appointed Research Director and then in November 1989, Director of the Institute. He became Policy Director in 1999. His research interests are in regional economics and policy evaluation and he has published many articles in leading journals including Oxford Economic Papers, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Papers in Regional Science, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Applied Economics and Regional Studies. He is the author (with Jim H Love) of Takeovers, Mergers and the Regional Economy, EUP, 1993. Current research projects include the economics of entrepreneurship and innovation. He has advised several governments, including the US Administration of President Carter, on matters related to regional economic development, sat on several advisory boards, served as Specialist Adviser to the Scottish Affairs Committee of the House of Commons and Adviser to the Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive. He was appointed by the UK government in 1991 to the Secretary of State for Scotland's Panel of Economic Consultants and in 1995 to the Northern Ireland Economic Council. In 2000, following an award of £841k from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, he became Co-Director of the Scottish Economic Policy Network (Scotecon). Scotecon is a research network involving economists in 12 Scottish universities, led from Stirling and Strathclyde, which seeks to promote independent policy research on the Scottish economy. In 2000, he also became a member of the Scottish Executive's Economic Consultants' Group and Economic Statistics Group and in 2001 he undertook an independent review of the Business Birth Rate Strategy for Scottish Enterprise. In 2002, he was appointed by the Executive to the Scottish Industrial Development Advisory Board (SIDAB).

Publications

Books  

COYLE D, ALEXANDER W, and ASHCROFT, B K  (Eds) New Wealth for Old Nations: Scotland's Economic Prospects, Princeton University Press, May 2005.
 
Chapters in Books

ASHCROFT, B K, MCGREGOR P. & SWALES J K "Devolution and the Economy: a Scottish perspective" Ch. 10 in J Adams and K Schmueker (Eds) Devolution in Practice 2006 Institute for Public Policy Reseach (north), December 2005

ARMSTRONG J, ALEXANDER W, ASHCROFT, B K COYLE D, and MACLAREN J) "The Political Economy of Scotland Past and Present" Chapter 1 in Coyle et al (Eds) New Wealth for Old Nations: Scotland's Economic Prospects Princeton University Press, May 2005

ASHCROFT, B K "The Scottish Economy" Ch 2 in  N Hood, J Peat, E Peters, and S Young (eds) Scotland in a Global Economy: the 2020 Vision, Palgrave, 2002.

Other Publications

ASHCROFT, B K, MCGREGOR P. & SWALES J K "Is Devolution Good for the Scottish Economy? A Framework for Analysis" Devolution Briefings Findings from the ESRC's Programme on Devolution and Constitutional Change  No. 26, March 2005.