On 5 July this year the NHS will be 70. In all its 70 years it has rarely been far from the headlines. It has been through more than its fair share of reforms, crises and funding ups and downs. Over that period, the amount we spend on it has risen inexorably. Yet, today, concerns about the adequacy of funding are once again hitting the headlines, as the health and social care systems struggle to cope with growing demand.
On 5 July this year the NHS will be 70. In all its 70 years it has rarely been far from the headlines. It has been through more than its fair share of reforms, crises and funding ups and downs. Over that period, the amount we spend on it has risen inexorably. Yet, today, concerns about the adequacy of funding are once again hitting the headlines, as the health and social care systems struggle to cope with growing demand.
David Phillips and Neil Amin-Smith examine the plans for radical overhaul of the council funding system, explore the impact of the funding pilot on local authority spending and question whether it is creating fairer distribution of funds for local authorities.
In a new VoxEU article, IFS post-doctoral fellow Rachel Cassidy and Professor Marcel Fafchamps (Stanford University) discuss findings from their study on savings groups and financial intermediation in Malawi.
Research on savings groups and financial intermediation in Malawi, joint with Professor Marcel Fafchamps, published as a CEPR Working Paper (12715).
https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12715
Using unique British cohort studies, this presentation unpicks the causal impact of A-levels and University degrees on individual earnings, showing that these ‘returns’ are 50% overestimated if family background and early years ability is ignored.
We develop a tax micro-simulator model (MEXTAX) that can quantify the revenue and distributional impact of tax reforms in Mexico using micro-level data. We use MEXTAX to assess revenue-raising reforms to Mexico’s direct and indirect tax systems of 2010.
The idea of having our own trade policy, of cutting tariffs, of signing shiny new trade agreements sounds terribly enticing. The reality, though, is boring. Get a sense of scale, throw in some simple arithmetic and sprinkle a basic understanding of trade and it is obvious that the economic costs of leaving the customs union must outweigh the benefits.
The ageing of the population is one of the biggest changes facing society today. People are living longer, remaining healthier at older ages, and working and engaging in society for longer. This is an achievement that should be celebrated, both in its own right and for the opportunities it presents, with older generations able to provide assistance to younger generations and pass down their accumulated experience and wisdom. However, such changes are, of course, not without challenges.
