Ailsa McKay

Professor
Ailsa McKay
Born(1963-06-07)7 June 1963
Died5 March 2014(2014-03-05) (aged 50)
NationalityScottish
Alma mater
OccupationProfessor of economics
EmployerGlasgow Caledonian University
Known forResearch on gender inequalities and the economics of the welfare state, feminist economics and universal basic income

Ailsa McKay (7 June 1963 – 5 March 2014)[1] was a Scottish economist, government policy adviser, a leading feminist economist and Professor of Economics at Glasgow Caledonian University.

She was noted for her research on gender inequalities and the economics of the welfare state, for her contributions to feminist economics, as a leading proponent of the universal basic income concept and as one of the UK's foremost experts on gender budgeting. She served as Vice Dean of the Glasgow School for Business and Society, and was also well known for her support of Scottish independence and as a key adviser to the Scottish government and First Minister Alex Salmond on economic and welfare state policies. Ailsa McKay is highlighted as a leading intellectual figure in the campaign for independence in Alex Salmond's 2015 book The Dream Shall Never Die.[2] Both Salmond and his successor Nicola Sturgeon have highlighted McKay's influence on Scottish gender equality policies.

She was a member of the board of directors of the left-wing Jimmy Reid Foundation think tank, and was an adviser to the United Nations. With Margunn Bjørnholt, she co-edited the book Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics, which was published days before her death. The Ailsa McKay Fellowship, the Ailsa McKay Lecture, one of the foremost honours in feminist economics, and the McKay House at Lenzie Academy are named in her honour.[3]

  1. ^ Obituaries (22 March 2014). "Ailsa McKay". The Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  2. ^ Alex Salmond, The Dream Shall Never Die: 100 Days that Changed Scotland Forever, William Collins, 2015, ISBN 0008139768
  3. ^ Lenzie Academy honour Professor Ailsa Mckay, caledonianblogs.net