Topics

Our research covers a wide range of topics related to businesses and their investments, including firm productivity, innovation and research and development, the location of firms’ activities and the effects of tax, competition and other policies.

Our work in this area looks at how consumers respond to price signals and other incentives to change their borrowing, saving and spending behaviour, as well as how different households' welfare is affected by inflation and changes in indirect taxes.

Our work on Education and Skills aims to understand what matters for the healthy development of children, from infancy to young adulthood. It tracks education spending in various stages of education and assesses the effectiveness of government policies at improving children’s outcomes and inequalities therein.

Our research on Employment and Incomes looks at trends in employment, wages, skills and the changing nature of work. Topics include the gender pay gap, public sector pay, the rise in self-employment and the effect of the tax and benefit system on labour supply.

Our work on Government finances and spending analyses past and future changes in government revenues and spending (overall and in specific areas). This includes assessing the government's record and scrutinising plans at key moments such as budgets, spending reviews and election cycles.

This work analyses the financing, organisation and the demand for health and social care. It studies how much the UK spends on health and social care, specific policies that affect the delivery of care, workforce issues, health inequalities and a wide set of determinants of demand for health and social care in the UK and in low and middle income countries.

Our work on international development studies labour markets, infrastructure, health and education systems and public finances in low and middle income countries. We use field experiments, survey and administrative data and theory to examine the effects of policies on individuals and firms as well as on aggregate outcomes.

Our research looks at inequalities in living standards, education, health and other outcomes. We study the role of labour market outcomes, taxes and benefits, and structural forces like globalisation in shaping trends in poverty, inequality and social mobility.

Our research is supported by rigorous use of economic modelling, cutting edge empirical methods and rich data. We continue to make advances in developing models and methods to study the dynamic behaviour of individuals and firms, the structure of the education, labour and marriage markets, and their implications for policy design and evaluation.

Our work examines how and why people accumulate wealth - such as in housing, pensions and other assets - and how they use it over their working life and in retirement. We also analyse decisions about retirement and the impact of pensions and saving policy on incomes, saving and retirement decisions.

Our work analyses impacts on inequality, poverty, the public finances, and the behaviour of workers, firms and consumers, and considers how their design could be improved. Its focus ranges from the taxation of sugary drinks to revenue-raising measures in low and middle income countries to ongoing UK benefit reforms.