Taxation, authority and discretion

Understand this issue

What is this government’s ‘theory of growth’? Nobody knows

comment

"Shifting the performance of an entire economy requires a long-term, consistent and persistent direction." Paul Johnson writes for the Times.

20 January 2025

Share of apprenticeship budget spent on each apprenticeship level

data item

The proportion of funding directed to higher-level apprenticeships (level 4 and above) has trebled between 2017–18 and 2021–22 from 13% to 39%.

16 January 2025

Social care is the nightmare that won’t go away

comment

A government with a big majority should have had the political will to do more than just set up another review.

6 January 2025

Policy analysis

Projecting options for 16–18 education spending per student after 2025, 2009–10 = 1

data item

To maintain spending per student at 2025–26 levels, total funding would need to rise by almost £200 million in today's prices by the end of 2027–28.

16 January 2025

The distribution of deficits and surpluses across English colleges

data item

Although there has been some improvement since 2017, 37% of colleges reported operating in deficit in 2022–23.

16 January 2025

Public spending on adult education and skills (actual and projected for 2024–25)

data item

Public funding for adult skills has declined significantly since its peak in the early 2000s.

16 January 2025

Academic research

Inequality trends in a slow-growing economy: Italy, 1990–2020

journal article

This paper studies the labour supply and income inequality of individuals aged 25–55 in Italy between 1989 and 2020.

2 October 2024

Income and wage inequality in democratic Portugal, 1974–2020

journal article

This paper investigates the evolution of income and wage inequality in Portugal from the 1974 democratic revolution up to 2020.

2 October 2024

To be or not to be (employed): two decades of fluctuating earnings and income inequality in Spain

journal article

This paper offers a descriptive overview of the evolution of individual earnings and household income inequality in Spain over the last two decades.

2 October 2024