Boosting Bermuda’s economy exclusively by courting foreign investment represents a “grossly unbalanced” strategy for the Island, economist Craig Simmons has warned.

Although much of the Bermuda Government’s hopes for recovery have been pinned on bringing in close to a billion dollars of overseas capital, Mr Simmons said extra encouragement should go to smaller local investors.

“Fast nickels are better than slow dollars,” Mr Simmons said, adding that local entrepreneurs should be granted the same red-tape treatment afforded to foreign investors.

In a wide-ranging economic assessment, the senior economics lecturer at Bermuda College concludes that the Island is now “firmly heading in the direction of recovery — albeit an anaemic one”. Mr Simmons agreed with remarks from Bob Richards, the Minister of Finance, that Bermuda had to restore investor confidence to attract foreign dollars back to its shores.

However, he emphasised the challenge of getting large-scale projects started.

Mr Simmons said that getting a number of smaller projects off the ground was “a sensible way to manage uncertainty”, as opposed to banking on a small number of major works.

Defending the last Budget in February, Mr Richards said $930 million would be pumped into the local economy over the next three years, citing large-scale projects such as the airport redevelopment and new hotels.

The America’s Cup was given as another big draw, although Mr Simmons cautioned that the 2017 event risked being oversold because it would deliver an uplift of mainly temporary jobs in areas such as construction and food service.

The slow and often fitful pace of Bermuda’s climb back out of its economic morass was to be expected, he said, given the boom preceding the collapse had been fuelled by debt.

Bermuda’s distribution of wealth remains “very unequal”, as it is in similar economies, and Mr Simmons added that it would be a mistake to say merely that the Island’s working classes enjoyed a comparatively high standard of living.

“Low income is often a case of limited capability to earn higher income,” he said, noting that Bermuda’s low earners were also limited in their access to opportunity.

He pointed out that the low GCSE pass rates observed by many public school students would have a knock-on effect of limiting their access to good jobs, as well as their level of participation in the Island’s political process or even access to healthcare.

While working-class Bermudians appeared superficially well-off, Mr Simmons said that the community was nonetheless “unable to provide many boys and young men with the protective security they need to be free citizens”.

Mr Simmons said that much of the frustration expressed by Bermuda’s lower earners emanated from the conflict between traditional values, and the impersonal demands of the global economy.

Asked if he held out hope for the economy, Mr Simmons said he saw “tremendous opportunities” in the existing market, adding that the pessimism inherent to a recession was just as powerful as the irrational exuberance that had fuelled an unrealistic boom.

“Asset prices have never been so depressed as now,” he said, pointing out that condos were on the market for $150,000, and many equities had slumped well below their pre-recession values — making right now “the time to buy”.

Mr Simmons also predicted a bumpy ride coming for workers and business owners alike.

Just as outsourcing and technological advances had disrupted the Island’s workplace in recent years, he pointed to fresh innovations like Uber and Airbnb as having the potential to be significant upsetters.

Uber, a transportation network that works through a smartphone app, has unsettled taxi industries in cities across North America and Europe, and could make one of Bermuda’s major traditional businesses “redundant”.

The travel and lodging website Airbnb presents a similar threat to traditional hotels and guesthouses.

Asked about widespread opposition to the Government’s proposal of population increase as a means of boosting the economy, Mr Simmons pointed out that the poor economic climate led locals to assume that more foreigners would hinder their access to jobs.

He said the onus was on the Government to show its commitment to developing the economy, without relying exclusively on external forces to achieve it.