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Inequality, poverty and well-being
The distribution of income, consumption and wealth continues to be a central area of IFS research. Amongst the many aspects of our work in this area, we seek to chart, explain, and understand changes in inequality in wages, earnings, incomes and consumption, in the UK and other countries; we also seek to examine the effectiveness of a wide range of policies aimed at reducing poverty - including taxes and benefits, and other types of policy interventions - both at home and abroad.

Our research is also concerned with the welfare implications of changes both to inequality and poverty. These depend on how far they are caused by permanent changes in the relative standings of individuals in the income distribution (e.g. a change in the return to certain skills caused by technical progress) or by changes in the frequency of short-lived events (e.g. temporary layoffs), as well as the availability to individuals of specific insurance and other mechanisms to mitigate unexpected events.

For useful facts and figures, visit our Incomes in the UK section, where you will also find out interactive model, Where do you fit in?, which uses the latest data to plot your position in the income distribution.

See all current research projects for this subject

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Year: 483 publications
01 January 1994
C045
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.
26 October 1993
W93/09
J. Richard Aronson, Paul Johnson and Peter Lambert
01 September 1993
C039
Ian Crawford, Ian Crawford, Stephen Smith, Stephen Smith, Steven Webb and Steven Webb
This paper considers the impact on households of imposing VAT on domestic energy, and the extent to which the social security system will safeguard poorer households against the additional tax burden.
01 January 1993
C034
Chris Giles and Steven Webb
The purpose of this Commentary is to evaluate the merits of different methods of measuring low income, and to comment on the results of two main sets of UK low income statistics.
01 January 1993
W93/17
Peter Lambert and Pfahler
This paper sets out to explore theoretically how a change in the distribution of disposable income affects the market demand for a good or service.
01 September 1991
01 April 1991
C027
Paul Johnson and Steven Webb
This commentary analyses three seperate studies which attempt to assess the extent of poverty in the UK and asks why these studies produced apparently different results.
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Impact on Society
Extensive research on inequality allowed us to develop an online model where users can plot their position in the income distribution.
An IFS economist advised a “Citizens Jury” on the welfare system, including basic facts and important issues about its purpose and structure.
IFS researchers played an important role in the analysis underlying the findings of the National Equality Panel set up by the Labour Government.
IFS analysis forms an important input into the public debate about child and pensioner poverty and what policies are best suited to tackle these.
IFS evaluated the Pathways to Work programme. This work proved key to the policy debate about how to get disability benefit claimants in work.
IFS researchers develop a model of the Mexican tax system that will be used by the Mexican Government analysts.
The IFS has made valuable contributions to the debate on VAT and its impact on the poor.
IFS develops data on food prices and nutrition to build capacity for policy-relevant social science research.
Research told policymakers that, despite greater expenditure on health care, Americans are less healthy than their English counterparts.
IFS researchers have monitored the extent to which some households experience higher rates of inflation than others.
IFS researchers and the World Bank plan to develop capacity and tools in developing countries for the comprehensive analysis of tax reforms
In a tough economic climate IFS looks at how households are able to cope.
IFS researchers have investigated whether it is possible to measure the distributional impact of changes to spending on public services.
The IFS played a key role in the debate about who the tax and benefit changes in recent ‘Emergency Budget’ hit hardest.
IFS researchers have investigated the relative merits of government policies designed to protect elderly households from the coldest winters.