Government finances and spending

This article was published in Timesonline on 19th March 2009.

The publication yesterday of the annual report of the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, contains a controversial proposal to impose a minimum price of 50p per unit on alcohol, and follows close on the heels of similar ideas floated by the Scottish Government. We consider the merits of such a proposal and its potential impact on consumer behaviour, public health and public finances.

At their spring conference this weekend, the Liberal Democrats will discuss a series of proposals designed to combat inequalities in Britain's education system. One is a "pupil premium [to] bring the funding levels [of] one million disadvantaged pupils immediately up to private school levels." How effective might this be?

A House of Commons report has criticised the lack of progress made by universities in widening higher education participation among under-represented groups, despite public money allocated to them for this purpose. But IFS research suggests that the key to improving access to higher education lies with schools, not universities.

Despite official figures showing that the public finances are weakening more sharply than the Treasury predicted in November's Pre-Budget Report, Gordon Brown has been handed some useful ammunition if he wants to argue for a further short-term fiscal giveaway in April's Budget.

This paper was presented at the workshop, Microsimulation as a tool for the analysis of public policies: methods and applications at the Paris School of Economics.

This article was published in Public Finance Magazine on 2nd February 2009

This presentation was given at the launch of the IFS Green Budget 2009.

This presentation was given at the launch of the IFS Green Budget 2009.

This presentation was given at the launch of the IFS Green Budget 2009.

This presentation was given at the launch of the IFS Green Budget 2009.

This presentation was part of the IFS Green Budget 2009 launch.

This presentation was given at the launch of the IFS Green Budget 2009.