Government finances and spending

This paper evaluates whether means-tested grants paid to secondary students are an effective way of reducing the proportion of school dropouts.

This Election Briefing Note compares Labour's proposed reforms to the system of higher education (HE) finance in England and the alternative proposals outlined by the Conservative Party in September 20042 and the Liberal Democrats in January and March 2005.

This Election Briefing Note shows how the tax and benefit reforms proposed by the three

This Election Briefing Note assesses the main parties' manifesto claims about living standards, poverty and taxation.

This note starts with a summary of tax reforms since 1997. This is followed by an assessment of the overall effect of these changes on the tax burden faced by businesses and on government revenues. The note concludes with a discussion of future trends in

As in previous general elections, the appropriate size of the state is a key issue. This Briefing Note describes the trends in public spending since Labour came to office in 1997 and compares them with those seen previously in the UK and in other OCED countries.

This Briefing Note examines the evolution of the tax burden over the last 50 years. It then looks at the proposals in the parties' manifestos.

This Briefing Note assesses the government's management of the public finances since 1997, judged against the rules it set itself to constrain public sector borrowing and debt, and against the performance of other industrial countries over the same period. It then discusses how the public finances might evolve given the tax and spending policies of the three main parties, as well as their proposals to reform the framework in which the public finances are managed.

This note looks at the distributional impact of changes to the tax and benefit system since 1997.

This commentary compares the university funding of Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. These policies have important implications for students, graduates, universities and taxpayers.

This paper is concerned with the extent to which household expenditure patterns are affected by Child Benefit.

Russia dramatically reduced its higher rates of personal income tax (PIT) in 2001 establishing a single marginal rate at the low level of 13 percent.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)’s Pensim2 model is a dynamic microsimulation model.