Carl is Deputy Director of the IFS, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, an editor of the annual IFS Green Budget and a Director of the Pensions Review. His research includes issues around the UK's public finances, and household retirement saving decisions.
He is also a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee, the advisory panel of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and the UK Statistics Authority's Methodological Assurance Review Panel. He previously served as a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Education
MSc Economics, Birkbeck, University of London, 1999
BSc (1st Class) Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1996
The reforms to taxes and benefits announced in Gordon Brown's seventh Budget will have only a modest effect on the distribution of disposable income in Britain.
In this Briefing Note, we discuss whether or not the government's proposed reforms are likely to help individuals to make choices about how to provide for their retirement that are appropriate to their circumstances. We focus particularly on whether or not the proposals might prompt those individuals who are not thought to be providing sufficiently for their retirement to save more each year or to retire at an older age than might otherwise have been the case.
The Economics of Public Spending investigates the extent of government involvement in the economy, details its rational, and traces its historical record.
This paper describes the current UK pension system and both the motivations behind, and the implications of, the direction of reforms seen over the last twenty years.