Ms Mairi Spowage

Prof Of Practice & Director Of F A I

Economics

Personal statement

Mairi Spowage is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute.

Her areas of expertise include economic policy, economic statistics, national accounting, public sector finances, and economic and fiscal forecasting.

Mairi leads on the Institute's work with various partners, including those in business, the public and third sector. She is regularly asked to give evidence on economic and fiscal matters at Parliamentary Committees, such as the Finance and Constitution Committee and the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee. 

Mairi has been appointed to be the Budget Adviser to the Finance and Public Adminsitration Committee for 2021-2023. Mairi has also been appointed as an Office for National Statistics (ONS) fellow and member of the Economic Experts Working Group (EEWG).

Mairi is leading on various projects to improve regional economic statistics, looking at inter-regional trade, business engagement and encouraging graduates into careers in analysis through the Economic Futures programme. She is also developing the Fraser’s capacity building CPD programme in the use of national and local economic data and statistics.

Previously, Mairi was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Head of National Accounts at the Scottish Government, and has 15 years of experience working in different areas of statistics and analysis, including transport, household surveys and performance measurement.

Publications

Economic Commentary [March 2023]
Spowage Mairi, Randolph Hannah L, Crummey Ciara, McGeoch Adam, Milne Kate, Watts Rob
Fraser of Allander Economic Commentary Vol 47, pp. 1-23 (2023)
25 Years of the Scottish Business Monitor
Milne Kate, Dalwai Atika, McGeoch Adam, Spowage Mairi
(2023)
Weekly update from Professor Mairi Spowage - [Podcast] EP68
Milne Kate, Spowage Mairi
(2023)
The Economic Contribution of the Pharmaceuticals Sector in Scotland
, McGeoch Adam, Spowage Mairi, Milne Kate, Williamson Jack, Fox Calum
(2023)
UK Budget Review [Podcast] EP 69
Fox Calum, Spowage Mairi
(2023)
Weekly Update – stats, stats and more stats - [Podcast] EP67
Williamson Jack, Spowage Mairi
(2023)

More publications

Research interests

Economic Policy

Economic Measurement & Statistics

National Accounts - Input-Output Analysis

Economic and Fiscal Forecasting

Public Sector Finances

Professional activities

Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy Academic Conference
Participant
20/4/2023
Weekly update – A review of our latest economic commentary [Podcast] EP70
Interviewee
31/3/2023
UK Trade Policy Forum - Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy
Keynote/plenary speaker
28/2/2023
Briefing the Finance and Public Administration Committee on climate change
Speaker
28/6/2022
Providing feedback on Climate Emergency Response Group recommendations to Scottish Government
Speaker
24/6/2022
Building a Suite of Subnational Socioeconomic Indicators for the UK: Opportunities, Challenges and Recommendations
Contributor
24/5/2022

More professional activities

Projects

Understanding the Scottish Economy
Spowage, Mairi (Principal Investigator) Fox, Calum (Co-investigator)
05-Jan-2023 - 05-Jan-2023
Trade in Northern Ireland: Characteristics of businesses and workers
Spowage, Mairi (Principal Investigator) Figus, Gioele (Co-investigator) Black, James (Researcher)
01-Jan-2023 - 30-Jan-2023
The CBI Scottish Productivity Index
McGeoch, Adam (Principal Investigator) Spowage, Mairi (Co-investigator)
31-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2026
Economics Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Package for Food and Drink Division
Spowage, Mairi (Principal Investigator)
12-Jan-2022 - 01-Jan-2022
Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy
Spowage, Mairi (Principal Investigator) Figus, Gioele (Co-investigator) McGregor, Peter (Co-investigator) Roy, Graeme (Co-investigator) Wooton, Ian (Co-investigator) Black, James (Researcher) Maurya, Aditya (Researcher)
06-Jan-2022 - 05-Jan-2027
Scoping the potential use of macroeconomic models to energy policies questions in Northern Ireland
Connolly, Kevin (Principal Investigator) Spowage, Mairi (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2022

More projects