Molly Scott-Cato

MA (Oxon.) in politics, philosophy and economics
MSc (Open) in social research methods
PhD (Wales) in economics

Molly Scott Cato is Professor of Green Economics in the Business School. She is a green economist who is also well-known in the field of co-operative studies. She was elected as Green MEP for South West England and Gibraltar in May 2014 and is now only employed on a small fractional contract.

Molly's first area of work is into the green economy, addressing the question of how we might design and organise an economy that fits comfortably within planetary limits and achieves social justice. To this end she undertakes a critique of the monocultural global economy and proposes instead a system of self-reliant local economies, within the over-arching framework of a bioregional approach to provisioning.

Her second main area of work addresses the theory of the economics of co-operatives and social enterprises and in particular the concept of social entrepreneurship.

Her third area of work involves critiquing the existing monetary system and suggesting sustainable and stable alternatives. The link between the growth imperative that drives the environmental crisis and the debt-based nature of the existing money system is a central tenet of green economics.

Molly has published widely and in a range of different outlets; she also her own personal website, Green Economist, and a popular blog Gaian Economics.

Molly's current PhD students are:

James Beecher: The resilience of UK building societies during the 2008 financial crisis

Kathryn Addicott: Female entrepreneurship in the voluntary sector

Barbara Kennedy: Virtue ethics and the motivations of organic food producers

Barry Pemberton: Governance in the UK civil nuclear power industry.

Rodrigo Silva da Sousa: The Construction of Risk: How 'actors' construct the concept of 'risk' in practice

Beth Stratford: Steady State Economics and the housing market: is there a conflict between rising house prices and sustainability?

Viktorija Mano: The vulnerability of a small open economy in a situation of global fiscal crisis: The impact of the Greek debt crisis on the FDI in Macedonia

Paola Rafaelli: Defining the Solidarity Economy in the UK and Argentina

Christopher Bond: Leading and Learning: working with the complexities of transformational change, by published works

• the green economy
• global economy
• bioregional approaches
• theory of economics (particularly of co-operatives and social enterprises)
• social entrepreneurship
• existing monetary system v sustainable/stable alternatives
• environmental crises including climate change
• practical sustainability
• participatory planning

Molly is a member of the UK Society of Co-operative Studies and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Co-operative Studies. She is well connected within the co-operative movement and is a member of the Welsh government's Co-operative Commission.

Molly is interested in developing work in the areas of the bioregional economy and participatory planning within the context of climate change. She is also engaged with practical sustainability via her involvement with Transition Stroud and her role as a Green councillor on Stroud District Council.