Education and skills

This study focuses on the transmission of inequality over the working life. A model of constrained intertemporal choice is used to provide structure to the distributional dynamics of wages, earnings, income and consumption. The mechanisms used to insure labour market shocks are examined in a partial-insurance setting where the manner and scope for insurance depends on the access to credit, the information available to consumers and the durability of income shocks. Drawing on recent research, family labour supply, the credit market and the tax system are all shown to play a key role. These mechanisms vary in importance across different points of the life cycle and the business cycle.

We produce an independent estimate of the long-run cost of providing student loans.

This report updates and extends the previous IFS work to examine the consequences of these changes for graduates.

Early childhood investments substantially boost adult health

This paper provides causal estimates of the effect of teacher pay on pupil attainment using a sharp geographical discontinuity in teacher salaries.

In this paper we examine the link between wage inequality and consumption inequality using a life cycle model that incorporates household consumption and family labor supply decisions.

Nutrition, information, and household behaviour: experimental evidence from Malawi

In this paper we examine the learning achievement of primary school pupils in Vietnam and explore the relationships between home-background, teacher, peer and school factors and learning progress in Grade 5, using data from Young Lives. We find that disadvantaged pupils receive relatively equitable access in relation to indicators of ‘fundamental’ school quality, a considerable policy success regarding the provision of ‘minimum standards’. However, differences by home advantage are relatively large where more sophisticated ‘opportunities to learn’ are considered, such as the number of hours of instruction received, including through ‘extra classes’, as well as access to learning resources such as computers, internet and non-text books.

This note examines the public sector pay differential using the latest figures.

This report investigates the feasibility of different scenarios for spending on higher education by illustrating the implications that such spending would have for other areas of BIS spending.

This report considers the extent to which differences in parental characteristics explain gaps in cognitive and socio-emotional development between children at older ages.