1
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Just over a mile away from here

2
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in Edinburgh's old town

3
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is Panmure House.

4
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Panmure House

5
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
was the home of the world-renowned
Scottish economist Adam Smith.

6
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In his important work
"The Wealth of Nations,"

7
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Adam Smith argued,
amongst many other things,

8
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that the measurement of a country's wealth

9
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
was not just its gold and silver reserves.

10
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It was the totality of the country's
production and commerce.

11
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I guess it was one of the earliest
descriptions of what we now know today

12
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
as Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

13
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Now, in the years since, of course,

14
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that measurement
of production and commerce,

15
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
GDP, has become ever more important,

16
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to the point that today,

17
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and I don't believe that this
is what Adam Smith would have intended,

18
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that it is often seen as
the most important measurement

19
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of a country's overall success.

20
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And my argument today

21
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is that it is time for that to change.

22
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You know, what we choose to measure
as a country matters.

23
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It really matters, because
it drives political focus,

24
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it drives at public activity,

25
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and against that context,

26
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I think the limitations of GDP
as a measurement of a country's success

27
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is all too obvious.

28
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You know, GDP measures
the output of all of our work,

29
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but it says nothing about
the nature of that work,

30
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
about whether that work
is worthwhile or fulfilling.

31
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It puts a value, for example,

32
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
on illegal drug consumption,

33
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but not on unpaid care.

34
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It values activity in the short term
that boosts the economy

35
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
even if that activity is hugely damaging

36
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to the sustainability of our planet

37
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in the longer term.

38
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And when we reflect on the past decade
of political and economic upheaval,

39
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of growing inequalities,

40
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and when we look ahead to the challenges
of the climate emergency,

41
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
increasing automation,

42
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
an aging population,

43
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
then I think the argument for the case
for a much broader definition

44
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of what it means to be successful
as a country, as a society,

45
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is compelling, and increasingly so.

46
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And that is why Scotland in 2018

47
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
took the lead, took the initiative
in establishing a new network

48
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
called the Wellbeing Economy
Governments group,

49
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
bringing together as founding members

50
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the countries of Scotland, Iceland,
and New Zealand for obvious reasons.

51
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We're sometimes called the SIN countries,

52
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
although our focus is very much
on the common good.

53
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And the purpose of this group
is to challenge that focus

54
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
on the narrow measurement of GDP,

55
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to say that, yes, economic growth matters.

56
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It is important.

57
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But it is not all that is important.

58
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And growth in GDP should not be pursued

59
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
at any or all cost.

60
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In fact, the argument of that group

61
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is that the goal, the objective
of economic policy

62
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
should be collective wellbeing:

63
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
how happy and healthy a population is,

64
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
not just how wealthy a population is.

65
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And I will touch on the policy
implications of that in a moment,

66
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but I think particularly
in the world we live in today

67
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it has a deeper resonance.

68
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
You know, when we focus on wellbeing,

69
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
we start a conversation

70
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that provokes profound
and fundamental questions.

71
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What really matters to us in our lives?

72
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What do we value in
the communities we live in?

73
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What kind of country,
what kind of society,

74
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
do we really want to be?

75
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And when we engage people
in those questions,

76
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in finding the answers to those questions,

77
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
then I believe that we have
a much better chance

78
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
of addressing the alienation
and disaffection from politics

79
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that is so prevalent in so many countries

80
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
across the developed world today.

81
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In policy terms, this journey
for Scotland started back in 2007

82
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
when we published what we call
our National Performance Framework,

83
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
looking at the range of indicators
that we measure ourselves against.

84
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And those indicators are as varied
as income inequality,

85
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the happiness of children,
access to green spaces,

86
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
access to housing.

87
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
None of these are captured
in GDP statistics,

88
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but they are all fundamental
to a healthy and a happy society.

89
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(Applause)

90
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And that broader approach is at the heart
of our economic strategy,

91
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
where we give equal importance
to tackling inequality

92
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
as we do to economic competitiveness.

93
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It drives our commitment to fair work,
making sure that work is fulfilling

94
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and well-paid.

95
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's behind our decision to establish
a just transition commission

96
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to guide our path
to a carbon zero economy.

97
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We know from economic
transformations of the past

98
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that if we're not careful,
there are more losers than winners.

99
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And as we face up to the challenges
of climate change and automation,

100
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
we must not make those mistakes again.

101
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The work we're doing here in Scotland
is, I think, significant,

102
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but we have much, much to learn
from other countries.

103
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I mentioned a moment ago
our partners at nations

104
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
in the wellbeing network,

105
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Iceland and New Zealand.

106
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So I'm noting, and I will leave it to you
to decide whether this is relevant or not

107
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that all three of these countries
are currently led by women.

108
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
(Applause)

109
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They too are doing great work,

110
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
New Zealand, in 2019,

111
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
publishing its first wellbeing budget

112
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with mental health at its heart;

113
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Iceland leading the way on equal pay,
child care, and paternity rights,

114
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
not policies that we immediately think of

115
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
when we talk about
creating a wealthy economy

116
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but policies that are fundamental
to a health economy

117
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and a happy society.

118
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I started with Adam Smith

119
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and "The Wealth of Nations."

120
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
In Adam Smith's earlier work,

121
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
"The Theory of Moral Sentiments,"
which I think is just as important,

122
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
he made the observation
that the value of any government

123
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is judged in proportion

124
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to the extent that it makes
its people happy.

125
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I think that is a good founding principle

126
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
for any group of countries

127
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
focused on promoting wellbeing.