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Showing 701 – 720 of 2007 results

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The effects of banning advertising in junk food markets

Report

There have been calls for restrictions on junk food advertising to tackle rising rates of obesity around the world. This column examines the likely effect of a ban on potato crisp advertising. Results suggest that the total quantity of crisps sold would fall by around 15% in the presence of a ban, or by 10% if firms respond with price cuts. The welfare benefits from this would depend on whether current advertising is persuasive, informative or complementary.

31 March 2017

Presentation graphic

A devolution revolution? Or problems delegated?

Presentation

David Phillips, associate director at IFS, gave this presentation to the LGiU's Network on the Future of Local Democracy on 28th March 2017. It touches upon some of the main changes to local government over the last few years and years ahead, and key issues that arise.

28 March 2017

Publication graphic

Designing alcohol taxes: Evidence from the UK market

Report

Governments have long used taxation to correct for the socially costly overconsumption of alcohol, but as the external cost of overconsumption varies across drinkers, a single tax rate is not optimal. This column argues that variation in preferences for different products and in price responsiveness across heavy and light drinkers provides scope to improve welfare by varying tax rates across alcohol products. The proposed framework is well suited to addressing other sources of external costs, such as obesity.

22 March 2017

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The changing educational attainment of graduate recruits to major public sector occupations

Report

Public sector pay has been squeezed since public spending cuts began to take effect from 2011, and it looks set to be squeezed even further up to 2020. However, this comes on the back of an increase in public sector wages relative to those in the private sector during the Great Recession. There is currently significant policy interest in the extent to which continued stagnation in public sector wages will affect the ability of the public sector to recruit and retain high-quality workers, although to date little is known about the potential effects.

13 March 2017

Article graphic

Would you rather? Further increases in the state pension age v abandoning the triple lock

Comment

On Tuesday afternoon MPs in the House of Commons will debate the recent report by the Work and Pensions Select Committee on “intergenerational fairness”. This argued that triple lock indexation of the state pension should not continue beyond 2020 and pointed out that, for a given amount of spending on the state pension, there is a trade-off between the level of the state pension and the state pension age. This observation uses projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility to quantify this trade-off.

27 February 2017