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.
Sustaining behavioural change: Evidence from rural Pakistan Comment Where community interventions lead to behaviour change, continued interactions are needed to help people maintain healthy behaviours. 27 January 2023
It’s not only the NHS in trouble — the whole country is getting sicker Comment "Public health needs to move up all our agendas." Paul Johnson writes in the Times on the staggering worsening in the UK's national health. 19 December 2022
The number of new disability benefit claimants has doubled in a year Report The number of working-age people newly awarded disability benefits doubled between July 2021 and July 2022. This report investigates that increase. 7 December 2022
VOG: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Air Pollution on Student Learning Outcomes Working Paper This study pairs variation stemming from volcanic eruptions with student test scores to estimate the impact of particulates on student performance. 22 November 2022
Technology, skills, and performance: the case of robots in surgery Working Paper This paper investigates the potential of new technologies to reduce disparities in the provision of healthcare services. 7 November 2022
Health inequalities Report There are marked differences in life expectancy between the regions of England, the countries in the UK, and the UK and other wealthy countries. 4 November 2022
Is worsening health leading to more older workers quitting work, driving up rates of economic inactivity? Comment We examine labour market trends for older people to see if poorer health is driving down employment rates and causing a rise in economic inactivity 26 October 2022
Does funding follow need? An analysis of the geographic distribution of public spending in England Report In the financial year before COVID-19, government spending that can be attributed to England amounted to £541 billion or £9,650 per person. 20 October 2022
The impact of area level mental health interventions on outcomes for secondary school pupils: Evidence from the HeadStart programme in England Working Paper This paper provides the first robust evaluation of the impacts on school outcomes of HeadStart for area-level mental health interventions. 13 October 2022
The health effects of universal early childhood interventions: evidence from Sure Start Working Paper We evaluate the short- and medium-term health impacts of Sure Start. 13 October 2022
IFS Green Budget 2022 Report The IFS Green Budget 2022 takes stock of the economic and fiscal outlook following Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget and analyses the challenges ahead. 11 October 2022
Nurse staffing and inpatient mortality in the English National Health Service: a retrospective longitudinal study Journal article This journal article examines the impact of nursing team size and composition on inpatient hospital mortality. 27 September 2022
Prenatal sugar consumption and late-life human capital and health: analyses based on postwar rationing and polygenic scores Working Paper We exploit the abolishment and subsequent reintroduction of rationing sweet confectionery in the UK and consider the effects on late-life health. 26 September 2022
Gender norms, violence and adolescent girls’ trajectories: evidence from a field experiment in India Working Paper We compare the effectiveness of targeting only adolescent girls with an approach that engages with enforcers of gender norms in the wider community. 26 September 2022
Will public sector workers get a pay rise? Podcast With inflation squeezed living standards, will the government have to give public sector workers a pay rise? 21 September 2022
The distribution of doctor quality: evidence from cardiologists in England Working Paper This paper provides new evidence on the role senior doctors play in determining patient outcomes. 9 August 2022
Long COVID and the labour market Report We assess long COVID's impact has on labour market outcomes including hours, earnings and employment. 27 July 2022
When nature calls back: Sustaining behavioral change in rural Pakistan Journal article We implement a randomized controlled trial and a qualitative study to assess whether, and if so how, behavioral change can be sustained. 16 July 2022
Can white elephants kill? Unintended consequences of infrastructure development Working Paper I provide evidence of the severe social costs imposed by infrastructure projects that are being implemented in the context of sewerage in Peru. 12 July 2022
The decline of home-cooked food Journal article We show that observed behaviour can be rationalised by the fact that the shadow price of home-cooked food, which accounts for the fact that cooking takes time, has risen relative to the price of ready-to-eat food. 20 June 2022
