At the time of posting this, there are 11 days left until Scotland votes on whether or not it wants to rend apart the United Kingdom and go its own way.
I believe that the economics of the situation tend to support the "Better Together" campaign.
Alex Salmond's case for independence seems to revolve primarily around the North Sea Oil. However, the amount of oil extracted has fallen by an average of 7.8% per year since 1999 while the actual price of oil is highly variable, in no small part due to the actions of places like Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Scotland also spends more per capita on the NHS and benefits than any other area of the UK. A distressingly high percentage of its population is either on benefits or working for the government, it has an average of 740 private businesses per 10,000 population, lower than anywhere except the most deprived areas of the north-west. As a result, economic wealth creation is somewhat limited.
These facts added together mean that if Scotland does choose to go it alone (an outcome that is looking more likely), it will suffer from moderate to severe financial problems as it either scrambles for money to maintain its current government spending levels or instigates cuts that make the Lib-Dem/Tory government seem like spendthrifts in comparison.
As for Scotland joining the EU, forget it. The Spanish Government has gone on record as saying that they will utilize their veto power to block Scotland's entry. The reasoning for this is the Catelonia issue, a region of Spain with a small but significant number of campaigners (and some terrorist/freedom fighters) who are trying to get the region declared a country in its own right. Should Scotland be allowed into the EU, the Catalonians will take it as a sign that their dream of an independent Catalonia is viable and will increase their actions in an attempt to secure independence for themselves.
Yes, this is unfair to Scotland, but the Spanish government doesn't want a seccesionist crisis of its own.
With Scotland needing to create its own currency (all 3 political parties have declared that there would be no currency union between the UK and an independent Scotland) and lacking the support of the Bank of England, the Scottish economy will be far more fragile and less able to dampen out economic shocks. Furthermore, if Scotland decides to declare that it will not pay its portion of the National Debt because the debt belongs to the UK (of which it is no longer a part), it will become a financial pariah with any loans it takes out being the subject of usurious rates of interest. Conversely, if it does accept the portion of debt, that will seriously impact on the amount of money Scotland has available.
The reason that I think that Scotland will decide to go independent can be summed up as Nationalism and a low-level but pervasive hatred of the English Sassenachs. The whole William Wallace aspect also comes into play, despite the fact that he lost (which may be an important historical lesson).
I believe that if Scotland does go independent, it will have about six months of apparent prosperity before all the other factors combine in an economic perfect storm which will cause the country to virtually collapse, with multi-national companies deserting it, as well as many Scots who will flock to England in search of work or benefits.
In short, unless Scotland either discovers a huge trove of previously untapped resources (like diamonds, gold or new oil fields) or seriously reforms its benefits system to drive people into non-government work, I don't see it lasting a decade before it collapses economically.
Of course, that's just what I believe...
(Oil and business figured taken from the Sunday Times, 07/Sep/2014)
It's not insurmountable, but it would make more sense to reconstruct the economy whilst still part of the UK. Assuming more tax raising powers are given, it might make the administration at Holyrood more circumspect in what it spends as it would be fiscally responsible for it's actions. Which, IMHO, is a good thing. No more blaming Westminster for all ills! 
