I AM glad that Christopher Harvie (Letters, February 12) found merit in some of Professor Glaeser's contribution to the Allander Series looking at Scotland's economic future. However, I would take issue with him over his suggestion that the Allander lectures regard the US as the only instructor in this area. It is the intention of the series to seek a mixture for Scotland of both the US spirit of enterprise and

the European commitment to solidarity. To this end, we have sought to attract some of the world's leading economists to consider Scotland, based on both their economic expertise and their understanding of its application to policy.

The reason for the preponderance of US-based authors is their quality, not their country of residence. US universities contain most of the best economists in the world; one only has to refer to the list of Nobel prize winners over the past 20 years to appreciate this fact. It is on this basis that we invite them, not on the basis of their devotion to the current structure of the US economy.

There are also a number of non-US-based economists involved, including Professors Heather Joshi, Robert Wright, Nick Crafts and John Bradley.

John McLaren,

member of the Allander Series project team, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.