Kim Swales is a Professor of

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

. Swales is a graduate of

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

; his main research interests are in regional economics. In 1989 he joined the

Fraser of Allander Institute The Fraser of Allander Institute, abbreviated to FAI, is an independent research unit and part of the Department of Economics at the University of Strathclyde. It specialises in researching the Scottish economy. The FAI covers a number of primar ...

to become a key member in an ESRC-funded project to develop a macro-micro model of the Scottish economy (AMOS). He has published widely in the field of regional economics, regional modelling and regional policy and until recently was associate editor of ''Regional Studies'' and is on the management committee of the ESRC Urban and Regional Study Group. In particular, he has worked with various novel approaches to helping unemployment such as tax breaks on

value-added tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...

. Swales is a coauthor of an alternative approach to the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

submitted to the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. This provides incentives for a minimum wage without mandating it, by using

tax breaks Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief, are a method of reduction to the tax liability of taxpayers. Government usually applies them to stimulate the economy and increase the solvency of the population. By this fis ...

per employee to reduce the

value added tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...

paid by employers. The report of the team's modelling states that this would not only increase employment levels but also increase

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often ...

, i.e. it would reverse any unemployment and

deadweight loss In economics, deadweight loss is the difference in production and consumption of any given product or service including government tax. The presence of deadweight loss is most commonly identified when the quantity produced ''relative'' to the amoun ...

effects of a mandated minimum wage, acting as a Pigovian subsidy.

References

External links

University Pages
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British economists Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge {{UK-economist-stub