Browse IFS
Research topics
Publication types
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.

 To get an idea of where you fit into the income distribution, try our interactive model, which will plot your position on the distributional graph. You can also download a spreadsheet containing some key figures about inequality.

See all current research projects for this subject

Search

Title (or part of title)
Author surname (or part of surname)

Year: 320 publications
30 July 2010
The Department of Work and Pensions today published a consultation paper called 21st Century Welfare which sets out ideas for fundamental reforms to the benefits system. The report presents a number of options for integrating different existing benefits.
16 July 2010
This presentation was given to a 'Citizens' Jury' run by BritainThinks and PriceWaterhouseCoopers on 16 July 2010 at the University of Warwick.
27 May 2010
Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, today gave a little more detail on the Government's plans for welfare reform, suggesting that the benefit system needed simplifying, incentives to work strengthening, and welfare-to-work programmes reforming . But what can actually be done?
21 May 2010
Changes in poverty under the previous Labour government were uneven, with relative poverty falling most in the North East and Scotland, but rising in the East and West Midlands.
21 May 2010
Changes in poverty under the previous Labour government were uneven, with relative poverty falling most in the North East and Scotland, but rising in the East and West Midlands.
21 May 2010
These slides were presented at the IFS briefing "Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2010" on Friday 21 May.
21 May 2010
These slides were presented at the IFS briefing "Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2010" on Friday 21 May.
21 May 2010
C116
In this Commentary, we assess the changes to average incomes, inequality and poverty that have occurred since 1979, with a particular focus on the changes that have occurred in the latest year of data (2008-09) and since 1996-97.
21 May 2010
C116
In this Commentary, we assess the changes to average incomes, inequality and poverty that have occurred since 1979, with a particular focus on the changes that have occurred in the latest year of data (2008-09) and since 1996-97.
20 May 2010
Average take-home incomes grew even after taking account of inflation and in spite of rising unemployment during 2008-09, the first full financial year of the recent recession. This is the surprising finding of official statistics released today.
320 results    previous    1 | 2 | 3 | ... | 30 | 31 | 32     next

Browse publications & research