Social mobility and wealth

Understand this issue

Average household consumption spending before and after housing costs, and mean weekly per-capita income, in different local authorities, 2018–2019

data item

Londoners may have the highest average incomes, but their household spending once you account for housing costs is lower than other regions.

11 April 2025

Rank of local authorities by average household income compared to rank by average consumption after housing costs

data item

On average, London local authorities rank at the top of the income distribution, but are bottom of the net-of-housing consumption distribution.

11 April 2025

Family values: inheritance, inequality and social mobility

podcast

Wealth concentration among baby boomers and stagnant earnings are driving the rise of the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, affecting social mobility.

3 March 2025

Policy analysis

Which places have the highest standard of living?

comment

Measuring living standards using average household spending gives a starkly different picture of regional inequalities than using average income.

11 April 2025

Spring Statement 2025: initial IFS response

comment

In response to deteriorating global economic conditions, Rachel Reeves chose to fine-tune her spending plans to continue to meet her fiscal rules. 

26 March 2025

How can policy boost productivity growth?

conference 25 March 2025 at 09:30

At this policy conference, four panels of experts gave their perspectives and recommendations on four key areas of the UK’s productivity problem.

Academic research

Police infrastructure, police performance, and crime: evidence from austerity cuts

working paper

Focusing on a wave of austerity cuts, I show that police station closure increased violent crimes in census blocks near the defunct stations.

27 March 2025

Small area consumption estimates for local authorities in Great Britain

working paper

In this paper, we estimate average equivalised consumption measures across local authority districts in Great Britain.

11 April 2025

Housing wealth, marital stability and labor supply: an intertemporal analysis

working paper

We study how house price shocks affect marital stability and household labor supply.

28 March 2025