 Facts and figures about UK taxes, benefits and public spending.
Analysing government fiscal forecasts and tax and spending.
Case studies that give a flavour of the areas where IFS research has an impact on society.
Reforming the tax system for the 21st century.
A peer-reviewed quarterly journal publishing articles by academics and practitioners.
Find out where you are in the income distribution.
Resources for schools and students.
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Understanding how consumers make decisions and what affects their behaviour is of key importance across a wide range of policy issues, from the analysis of indirect taxation to the assessment of competition policy. For example, the most recent developments in industrial organisation focus on how firms in imperfectly competitive markets interact, taking the structure of consumer demand as given. The nature of the equilibria that prevail in different markets depends crucially on the nature of consumer decisions.
Past research at IFS has played a leading role in the development of policy-relevant empirical models of consumer behaviour. Looking forward, our research will put the consumer at the heart of competition analysis by providing a rigorous characterisation of consumer behaviour. This is crucial for designing regulatory structures and the implementation of consumer and competition policy across many markets, from retailing to telecoms. Our research aims to develop the analysis of consumer decision-making in conjunction with the analysis of newly available Consumer Panel data. We study behaviour in Britain in detail but also engage in comparative research on similar data in Europe and North America. Price indices and measures of consumer welfare are fundamental inputs into many areas of policy, influencing benefit and state pension levels, and monetary policy, as well as private sector wage bargaining. Price indices vary for many reasons, including the types of goods purchased, where the purchases are made and the extent to which firms have market power. Obtaining useful price indices requires estimates of substitution possibilities and the value placed on new goods by consumers at different points in the income distribution. Demand responses are essential inputs in the design of indirect and environmental taxes. Price discrimination and the effective cost of living across different types of consumers are important for understanding the adequacy of levels of welfare benefits and pensions. The new Consumer Panel data open up an exciting new research agenda. Search
The taxation of savings in the UK is in a mess and the IFS Capital Taxes Group, set up in 1987 and chaired by Malcolm Gammie of Linklaters & Paines, makes proposals which would considerably simplify the system. Its two principal proposals, which are outlined in this report, are for an extension of the current PEP and TESSA regimes to all personal savings and the introduction of an allowance for the cost of equity finance.
James Banks and Paul Johnson
James Banks, Andrew W Dilnot and Hamish Low
Very little is known about how households hold their savings, if they have any at all. This study shows how the amount and nature of household saving and wealth vary across different household types.
Measures of average inflation like the RPI cannot, by definition, capture the true cost-of-living increases faced by individual households. This report looks at the extent to which a range of households have had different experiences of inflation over the last 15 years.
The only circumstance under which one can speak accurately about <i>the</i> cost-of-living index is one in which household expenditure patterns do not vary.
Browse publications & research
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 Started: 01 January 2012
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Started: 01 May 2004
Started: 01 January 2004
   IFS researchers found that the Saving Gateway was not the best way to support lower income families; government acted on this advice.
In light of Government objectives to increase environmental taxation, we investigate whether the UK tax system is becoming more or less ‘green’.
IFS researchers have monitored the extent to which some households experience higher rates of inflation than others.
IFS researchers have evaluated whether the temporary VAT cut was able to boost the economy effectively.
Government departments used IFS research to inform decision-marking about a temporary cut in VAT.
Methods developed at IFS for measuring wealth were instrumental in establishing a detailed government dataset about assets and debt in Britain.
IFS researchers present and discuss new research on retirement saving with a group of business leaders and policy makers.
IFS develops data on food prices and nutrition to build capacity for policy-relevant social science research.
In a tough economic climate IFS looks at how households are able to cope.
An IFS research fellow is leading an independent review into how to make automatic enrolment into workplace pensions operate best.
IFS researchers suggest that a minimum price for alcohol could have a big impact.
IFS researchers develop a model of the Mexican tax system that will be used by the Mexican Government analysts.
IFS researchers have investigated whether it is possible to measure the distributional impact of changes to spending on public services.
IFS researchers have investigated the relative merits of government policies designed to protect elderly households from the coldest winters.
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