Editor,

I read the article "Economists should repair the damage" (April 11) in China Daily.

The situation is similar over here (I live in Scotland), but for different reasons.

Two of the biggest current debates in the West are: Is economic growth a good thing in countries that are already wealthy? And is the market the best mechanism for enhancing people, society and the environment?

Unfortunately, those debates are not taking place among professional economists. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but economics is still being taught at universities as if we were living 50 years ago.

While it is obviously true that Scotland is tiny compared to China, I suspect that we have similar problems.

I was in Beijing and Shanghai on business recently. It was clear to me and my colleague that China must find ways to balance material growth with "spiritual growth," otherwise it will end up with exactly the same problems that the West is currently experiencing, including endemic obesity, mental illness, widespread crime and wholesale destruction of the environment.

Chris Thomson, Scotland