NICOLA Sturgeon has helped spur support around the world for the introduction of a wellbeing economy, a political economist has said.
Writing in The National, Dr Katherine Trebeck said Scotland’s First Minister leaves behind a “positive” legacy that advocates for the priorities of people and the planet over profit.
Trebeck, co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, said Sturgeon joins the likes of Jacinda Ardern in urging other countries to follow suit.
She said: “This mission to transform our economy, shared in Sturgeon's Ted Talk on the subject, has gained huge momentum in Scotland and beyond.”
Trebeck, a writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Futures Institute, said that under Sturgeon Scotland had taken the first steps to redesign the economy to put people first.
Scotland is a founding member of the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership, which includes New Zealand, Finland, Canada, Iceland and Wales.
The organisation describes itself as a “collaboration of national and regional governments interested in sharing expertise and transferrable policy practices to advance their shared ambition of building Wellbeing Economies”.
During Sturgeon's 2018 Ted talk, Sturgeon said governments should prioritise wellbeing in their approach to the economy.
The FM said at the time: "Growth in GDP should not be pursued at any and all cost … The goal of economic policy should be collective well-being: how happy and healthy a population is, not just how wealthy a population is.”
Tribeck said Sturgeon’s goal of putting people first would continue to inspire others even after she leaves office.
She said: “Governments are more than their First or Prime Ministers. Much of the work of the Wellbeing Economy agenda is done by civil servants, working to design and implement policies and programmes.
“So while Sturgeon and Arden will no longer make speeches from dispatch boxes, the vision they articulated and the policies they ushered in will be built on, developed and refined by their successors - and by everyone committed to an economic system with wellbeing at its heart.”
