The economists have also poured more water on Alex Salmond’s plans to continue to share the pound with the rest of the UK. The NIESR argued that sterling is “inalienable to the UK government in the sense that it is part of its history and depends upon the ongoing support of the UK government”. The report adds: “Reputations are incomplete contracts because they can be partly shared but they cannot be transferred. It is simply not possible for the continuing UK government to transfer part of this reputational value to another government even if it were inclined to do so.”