He wants to reshape the economy by boosting skills and raising productivity among the "squeezed middle".
The key ingredients for economic success, he thinks, are boosting skills (which is why he wants university education to be free) and concentrating on Scotland's competitive advantages.
Used in the right way, procurement could be an important development tool: helping create jobs, boosting skills, supporting emerging industrial sectors, helping national economies wean themselves gradually off aid.
"Far from being a luxury, investing in homes provides great value for money, boosting skills, employment, local economic development and strengthening communities," he said.
He urged a lowering of the temperature of the immigration debate and a focus instead on boosting skills, adding: "That is where our long-term interests really lie," saying "scare stories" had to be killed off.
To maintain a middle class these days may take substantial government intervention, either in the form of trade barriers, a generous welfare state, or an extraordinarily aggressive effort to boost skill levels.
Stemming the decline in low-skilled men's work will also demand more education reform to boost skills, as well as a saner approach to drugs and imprisonment.Technology and globalisation are remaking labour markets across the rich world, to the relative detriment of the lower-skilled.
Borrowing to boost skills or research is quite different from borrowing to fuel a consumption binge.
While the UK government needs to adopt a smarter approach to immigration, both governments have made welcome advances in education to boost skills.
But they share the same fundamental tasks: to reduce skills gaps and shortages, to improve productivity, to boost skills of those working in their sectors and to improve the training that takes place there.
