If we had wanted to highlight the continuing relevance of the IFS’s research and public engagement - with our 40th anniversary year just a few weeks away - we could hardly have asked for a better illustration than this week’s Pre-Budget Report.

The Government abandoned its fiscal rules, announced dramatic downward revisions to its public finance forecasts, implemented a temporary VAT change, announced controversial reforms to the income tax and National Insurance system, rethought its plans for environmental tax reform, announced significant changes to business taxes and signalled a tight squeeze on public spending. In the run-up IFS researchers were busily engaged helping the Government, the Opposition parties and the media to prepare. And in its aftermath we had more than 200 people attend our “morning after” briefing and our analysis was cited approvingly by Alistair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable in the emergency debate in the House of Commons.

The PBR leaves us with much to analyse in our annual flagship Green Budget, which will be launched at the British Museum on January 28 in association with Morgan Stanley. I hope to see as many of you there as possible, so please sign up. It is also time to sign up for our biennial residential conference in Cambridge on April 2 and 3 2009, which this year focuses on education policy and will bring together leading politicians, academics and other education specialists from the UK and elsewhere.

Robert Chote
Director

IFS is currently recruiting for Research Economists, Graduate Scholarships and Summer Students.

Further information can be found in the Jobs section of our website. Please feel free to pass this information on to anyone who may be interested in joining us.

Volume 29, Number 3, September 2008