Solving climate change will entail innovation, substantial behavioural change, and considerable economic cost. What is the current state of UK environmental policy, what more needs to be done, and how can we ensure a fair transition to net zero?
Why do we care about inequality? What should be done about it? This lecture explores the debate over which inequalities the government should act to reduce, and why.
'A year ago, there was every indication the pandemic would widen inequalities in employment and earnings between old and young, whites and ethnic minorities, men and women. That now looks less likely.'
Carbon pricing can be a powerful tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What are the risks and opportunities from such policies in developing countries?
This paper studies linear panel regression models in which the unobserved error term is an unknown smooth function of two-way unobserved fixed effects.
As part of this year’s Festival of Social Science, IFS delivered a public economic talk on "Why are pensions important?" aimed at A-level and undergraduate students who have an interest in economics or might want to pursue a career in public policy research.
Increasing vehicle use throughout Africa has potentially large social, economic and environmental costs, particularly in urban areas caused by congestion, accidents and pollution. New research suggests that vehicle taxes in the region commonly fail to address these issues, which are applied predominantly to vehicle imports rather than ownership or usage.
In this paper, we look at why a global deal on global tax reforms was needed, explain how the reforms are likely to work in practice and set out the potential impacts of the global deal, with a focus on lower-income countries.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced his Autumn 2021 Budget and Spending Review on Wednesday 27 October. IFS researchers presented their initial analysis of the Chancellor's announcements on the public finances, spending on public services, and the tax and the benefit system today, Thursday 28 October at a livestreamed press briefing.
This article asks when a wealth tax would in principle be a desirable part of the tax system, setting aside the practicalities and politics that would be crucial in reality.
We show that wealth inequality in the UK is high and has increased slightly over the past decade as financial asset prices have increased in the wake of the financial crisis.
