About us
Jim Cuthbert was born in Scotland in 1946. He has an M.A. in mathematics and economics from Glasgow University, an M.Sc. in mathematics and statistics from the same university, and a D. Phil. from Sussex University in probability theory. He lectured in statistics at Glasgow University from 1970 to 1974. In that year, he joined the United Kingdom civil service as a statistician, where he worked in the Scottish Office, in the areas of local government finance, housing, education and the environment. From 1978 to 1980, he spent two years in the Treasury, working in the cash limits division. In 1986, he spent a period on secondment at the OECD. He was latterly Scottish Office Chief Statistician, taking early retirement in 1997. Since then he has pursued a number of interests, including research and consultancy. His research interests lie particularly in the areas of Scotland's public finances and the Scottish economy, and in certain aspects of purchasing power parities. He has worked with the OECD and the Australian Government, and presented papers at the World Bank, and for the Taiwanese Government.
Margaret Cuthbert was born in Paisley in Scotland in 1946 and graduated in Economics and Statistics from Glasgow University in 1968. She began her career as an economist in ICI before moving to a lecturer post in econometrics at Glasgow University. In 1975 she began economics and business consultancy work, combining this with periods in Heriot Watt University, Strathclyde University and the OECD. In 1980, she edited and contributed to "Public Expenditure in Scotland", one of the few texts analysing the Scottish economy written in the period after the first Devolution referendum. She set up her own economics consultancy company in 1989, primarily concentrating on economic issues in Scotland. 1997 saw a change of gear. We set up a new company with both of us doing consultancy, and with both devoting more time to research.
Jim and Margaret Cuthbert live in Edinburgh.