Paper given at the Energy and Environmental Taxation Workshop, Deusto University on 25th September 2012.

Sharp nonparametric bounds are derived for Hicksian compensating and equivalent variations. These 'i-bounds' generalize earlier results of Blundell, Browning and Crawford (2008). We show that their e-bounds are sharp under the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference (WARP). They do not require transitivity. The new i-bounds are sharp under the Strong Axiom of Revealed Preference (SARP). By requiring transitivity they can be used to bound welfare measures. The new bounds on welfare measures are shown to be operationalized through algorithms that are easy to implement.

This paper investigates life cycle patterns of demand for services from household durables using UK panel data.

This paper compares consumption and income as measures of households’ living standards using UK data.

There is growing interest in how behavioural economics can be used effectively by policymakers. This observation considers some of the broad implications of behavioural insights for tax and benefit policy, drawing on new IFS research which explores the issues for particular aspects of policy in this area.

This commentary gives a detailed examination of the behavioural insights for tax and benefit policy.

Parallels are increasingly being drawn between current economic circumstances and those of the 1970s. In this Briefing Note we take the opportunity to reflect on a few of the ways in which economic life has changed since the Silver Jubilee year.

New IFS research published today demonstrates the compelling case for road pricing as part of a radical overhaul of the way in which motoring is taxed. Current taxes - excise duties on road fuel and vehicle excise duty - are unable to capture the substantial variation by time and location in the external costs associated with motoring. At the same time, official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest revenues from these current taxes are set to erode significantly in the medium-term. Road pricing would provide not only a more economically rational way of taxing motoring but also a more sustainable tax base.

This report looks at the options for taxing motoring, concluding that a system of road pricing or congestion charging would be preferable to the current system.

The aim of this paper is to understand what a recession means for individual consumers, and to model in a life-cycle framework how individuals respond to recessions.