James is Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester, Senior Research Fellow at IFS where he is Co-Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy (CPP), and a founding Co-Principal Investigator of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. His research focuses on empirical modelling of individual economic behaviour over the life-cycle. His early work focused on consumption and spending patterns, asset accumulation and pension choices. Subsequently he has worked on broader issues in the economics of ageing, such as health, physical and cognitive functioning and their association with labour market and broader socioeconomic status, and the dynamics of work disability.
Education
PhD Economics, University College London, 1998
MSc Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1990
BSc (First Class Honours) Economics, University of Bristol, 1988
The gradual shift in responsibility for welfare provision, from the government to individuals, is making household saving and wealth holding a key policy concern.
In this article we argue that the life-cycle model that allows demographics to affect household preferences and relaxes the assumption of certainty equivalence can generate hump-shaped consumption profiles over age that are very similar to those observed in household-level data sources.
Recent studies have found a negative relationship between voluntary labour market activity and the opportunity cost of time, measured by the individual's net wage.
This paper addresses whether households save enough for their retirement. For successive date-of-birth cohorts we analyze income and expenditure patterns around the time of retirement.
In this paper we argue that only when one uses data and arguments relating to the life-time experiences of individuals or households within an economy can one understand recent trends and patterns in saving rates.
As the government nears the end of a consultation process on charity taxation, this commentary considers some of the key issues in the debate. What are the economic arguments for tax relief? Is there any evidence that tax incentives have a big effect on individual donations? What has been the impact of tax incentives in the UK? What are so-called `US-style tax deductions and how might they work in the UK? What other reforms to the current system of tax relief might the government consider?
As the Government considers what form the ISA should take, this Commentary documents the current state of savings and, in particular, the current tax treatment of savings. In the light of the experience of TESSAs and PEPS, we also consider several key features that the new Individual Savings Account might have.
In this paper we show how estimates of aggregate spending in the UK would be affected by using grossing weights that take account of the known dimensions of non-representativeness of the Family Expenditure Survey.
The exact measurement of the welfare costs of tax and price reform requires a detailed knowledge of individual preferences. Typically, first-order approximations of welfare costs are calculated avoiding detailed knowledge of substitution effects.
The late 1980s saw a dramatic fall in personal saving rates in Britain and the United States which attracted the attention of academics and policymakers alike.
