Consumer behaviour

Investigating the effects of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) on saving.

The main measure of inflation in the UK is the retail price index (RPI). One way to think of the RPI is as a measure of the changing cost of buying a very large shopping basket containing all of the purchases of a typical UK household. There is, of course, no such thing as a typical household. As a result, inflation varies across the household population, and it would be remarkable if the RPI were a good measure of inflation for every household. This IFS commentary explores the issues surrounding the extent and the implications of differences in inflation rates between households.

This paper presents a revealed preference method for calculating a lower bound on the virtual or reservation price of a new good and suggests a way to improve these bounds by using budget expansion paths.

We use microeconomic data on households to estimate the parameters of the demand for currency derived from a generalized Baumol-Tobin model.

e study the effects of risk and uncertainty on education and child labour in developing countries.

This paper studies the paths from inequality in earnings to inequality in household consumption.

In this paper we model the evolution of income risk and consumption growth.

This paper was prepared for inclusion in a symposium on saving and consumption in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Since the completion of the Single Market in 1992 it has become easier for people in the UK to take advantage of lower priced goods across the border. Alcohol is one good where there has been particular concern about the level of cross-border shopping because of differences in tax rates between the UK and France. If the Chancellor wants to reduce the amount of cross-border shopping by cutting duty, the important policy question is whether overall these two effects would have a positive or negative effect on revenue.

In the 1999 Pre-Budget Report the Chancellor announced measuers to encourage charitable giving through tax relief on donations. These are explained in this Briefing Note.

This paper addresses the issue of whether tax revenue from alcohol lost through cross-border shopping could be recouped by cutting excise duties.

In this paper we model the evolution ofincome risk and consumption growth

This report considers sources of bias in cost-of-living and price indices, with particular reference to the UK's retail price index. The sources of bias discussed are caused by the introduction of new goods, quality change in existing goods and commodity substitution by consumers. New methods of quantifying these biases and correcting them are presented with empirical applications.

This paper uses revealed preference restrictions and nonparametric statistical methods to bound a quality-constant price series for a good that