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Publication types
Cute baby
Previous research published by the IFS has shown that children born at the start of the academic year achieve better exam results, on average, than children born at the end of the academic year. New research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, provides fresh evidence on the extent to which these differences continue to affect individuals throughout their lives. It also provides new insight into what explains these differences, which is crucial in order to understand the most appropriate policy response.
Observations: reflections on current events
08 May 2013
Observations
The UK is in the fourth year of a planned eight-year fiscal tightening. Following further announcements made in Budget 2013, this fiscal consolidation is now forecast to total £143 billion by 2017–18. The UK is intending the fourth largest fiscal consolidation among the 29 advanced economies for which comparable data are available. By the end of this financial year, half of the total consolidation is expected to have been implemented. However, within this tax increases and cuts to investment spending have been relatively front-loaded, while cuts to welfare spending and other non-investment spending have been relatively back-loaded.
Featured publications and research
March 2013
Article
This paper uses data from the first two years after the change to the female state pension age to estimate the impact of increasing the state pension age from 60 to 61 on the employment of women and their partners.
March 2013
Article
On current forecasts, public spending will take the same proportion of national income in 2017–18 as it did in 2003–04. But it will be being spent on quite different things.
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Impact on Society
We run a policy evaluation methods course that has trained practitioners inside and outside government how to conduct an evaluation and interpret the results.
IFS researchers responded to a consultation on the design of a new policy to reduce corporation tax on some forms of income.
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The Institute for Fiscal Studies
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tel: 020 7291 4800
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