Fiscal rules and frameworks

This short note outlines some possible scenarios for the path of public spending beyond March 2004.

Focusing on the distributional consequences, this paper details the changes in the tax and benefit system in the Labour government's Budgets since they came to power in 1997.

This paper introduces a recursive algorithm with which to generate complete and accurate budget constraints using static microsimulation models.

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical evidence to assess whether a consensus arises as to how taxation affects the rate of economic growth.

Significant change was made to both tax and benefits systems during the period 19972001.

The report shows what differentiates the individuals in the survey who entered work over a twelve month period from those who remained out of work over the course of a year. It examines how the distribution of hourly wages earned by new entrants into jobs differs from the distribution of wages for those already in work. This `entry wage' information is just used to estimate gains to working for people who are currently unemployed or inactive, and to assess to what extent financial incentives affect entry into work. The report also simulates what the effect of the WFTC, the NI reforms, and the 10p tax rate might be on the numbers of men and women entering work and how these reforms might increase employment.

This Commentary looks at public pay in detail, tracing its trend relative to the private sector over the 1980s and 1990s and showing how the gap in pay between the public and private sectors differs dramatically across occupations, gender and education groups. These findings illustrate how misleading comparisons of public and private sector pay based on aggregate data can be.

Perceptions of private benefits from hypothecated tax increases may be correlated with income either because individuals with different incomes are more or less interested in public services or because they anticipate bearing different shares of the implied tax burden.

The 1980s tax reforms and the changing dispersion of wages offer one the best opportunities yet to estimate labour supply effects.

This article assesses the merits of using private finance to deliver public services against three criteria: whether it will lead to additional investment in social infrastructure, whether it represents good value for the taxpayer's money and whether the use of private finance will reduce the public sector's flexibility to pursue its public service objectives.

The UK experience has been that forecasts of the PSBR have been beset with problems since the

This paper investigates whether tax competition can survive under tax coordination, when information is private or nonverifiable.

This paper examines the role of international tax evasion for the choice of an optimal foreign tax credit by a capital exporting region

This paper outlines the connection between the formal description of the tax system and the marginal rate schedule faced by taxpayers.

This paper examines the impact of the UK housing benefit system on the financial returns to employment of people in local authority or Housing Association accommodation.