The £600 billion problem awaiting the next government podcastWe speak to David Gauke and Giles Wilkes, two experts who have been at the heart of the spending review process.25 April 2024
Be the Chancellor Our interactive tool lets you be the Chancellor. Change spending plans, set tax policies and see how your choices impact borrowing and debt.
Should we worry about government debt? podcastDavid Miles joins us to discuss high government debt and its impact on the economy. 11 April 2024
IFS Annual Lecture - Innovation and productivity policies: a budgetary perspective event 15 May 2024 Professor Heidi Williams (Dartmouth College) will deliver the 2024 IFS Annual Lecture on innovation and productivity policies.
Higher Education Access and Funding: challenges and policy options conference 14 May 2024 This one-day academic conference will look at access to and funding of Higher Education systems.
Jobs landing pageAt IFS, we recruit and train top-quality economists and professional support staff. We aim to foster a respectful and inclusive working environment.20 July 2022
Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy The Research Centre at the heart of IFS is the CPP.
Recent trends in and the outlook for health-related benefits Report Recipients of and spending on health-related benefits have risen rapidly since the start of the pandemic, posing a serious challenge for policymakers. 19 April 2024
A mess has been made of Child Benefit, and the clear-up operation may not be easy Comment "Status quos can be hard to change, no matter how incoherent they are." Robert Joyce writes about child benefit in The Telegraph. 29 March 2024
The menopause "penalty" Working Paper We estimate the effect of menopause diagnosis on employment and earnings, reliance on social safety net programs, and demand for medical care. 18 March 2024
Scottish Budget: The medium-term outlook and choices Report Devolved income tax revenues are forecast to boost the Scottish Government’s funding over the next five years, but many services could still see cuts. 6 February 2024
Autumn Statement 2023 response Comment Higher inflation has boosted tax revenues. Rather than compensate public services, or bank the spoils, the Chancellor decided to cut taxes. 22 November 2023
Cutting inheritance tax isn’t quite as simple as its proponents suggest Comment "There are dozens of tax cuts that would be some combination of more equitable and better designed to promote economic efficiency and growth." 20 November 2023
Using October rather than September inflation to uprate working-age benefits represents a £3 billion cut Comment Using October rather than September inflation to uprate benefits in April 2024 would be a permanent £3 billion cut to the size of the benefits system. 16 November 2023
The effects of reforms to the Work Capability Assessment for incapacity benefits Report We investigate the potential impacts of the government’s proposed reforms to the Work Capability Assessment. 26 October 2023
Is it time to reboot welfare economics? Overview Journal article The articles in this Fiscal Studies symposium engage with the question of how to revive normative questions as a central issue in economic scholarship 5 September 2023
IFS responds to changes to DWP work capability assessments Comment We respond to proposed changes by the government to reform the work capability assessment used to determine entitlement to incapacity benefits. 5 September 2023
Employment, earnings and incomes in Scotland Report How have employment, earnings and incomes performed in Scotland compared with the rest of the UK? What drives geographic inequalities within Scotland? 9 August 2023
When and why should we care about inequality? Podcast Why should we care about inequality? What has happened to inequality over recent decades? And can government do anything about it? 9 August 2023
An immediate response to the Scottish Fiscal Framework review Comment The revised Scottish Fiscal Framework will continue to redistribute income tax revenues from England and provides a little more financial flexibility. 2 August 2023
Twenty-five years of income inequality in Britain: The role of wages, household earnings and redistribution Journal article We study earnings and income inequality in Britain over the 25 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 July 2023
Poverty Report We investigate recent trends in poverty, and government policies aimed at alleviating it. 13 July 2023
Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2023 Report We investigate how living standards have changed for different groups in the UK, with a particular focus on the cost of living payments and housing. 13 July 2023
Recent changes to universal credit have much smaller effect on poverty than £20 uplift Comment Absolute poverty fell from 17.9% to 16.8% in the first year of the pandemic, due to rising benefit receipts. 9 July 2023
Living standards and inequality Report We examine recent trends in households’ living standards, with a particular focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–21 and 2021–22. 7 July 2023
The housing crisis for low-income private renters explained Explainer Tom Waters explains how the freezes in housing benefit are affecting low-income renters. 29 June 2023
Housing quality and affordability for lower-income households Report We examine patterns of housing tenure, quality and affordability for people on lower incomes. 27 June 2023
