Topics

Consumption and prices

Our work in this area looks at how consumers respond to price signals and other incentives to change their borrowing, saving and spending behaviour, as well as how different households' welfare is affected by inflation and changes in indirect taxes.

Showing 41 – 60 of 731 results

The decline of home-cooked food

Journal article

We show that observed behaviour can be rationalised by the fact that the shadow price of home-cooked food, which accounts for the fact that cooking takes time, has risen relative to the price of ready-to-eat food.

20 June 2022

Student living cost support cut to lowest level in seven years

Comment

Due to inflation forecast errors alone, students from the poorest families will lose £100 per month in maintenance support.

15 June 2022

IFS response to government cost of living support package

Comment

Initial analysis of the Chancellor's statement on the cost of living crisis.

26 May 2022

Reducing the expense of childcare won’t solve the cost-of-living crisis

Comment

"There is much to do to get childcare policy right, but let’s not mix it up with sorting out the present cost-of-living crisis." Paul Johnson writes for The Times.

23 May 2022

How does spending change through retirement?

Presentation

At this event, IFS researchers presented the findings of new research on the spending patterns of current retirees. Following this, Carolyn Jones, Hea

19 May 2022

How does spending change through retirement?

Report

In this report, we shed light on this question by examining the spending patterns of current retirees in the UK.

19 May 2022

Changes to universal credit regime must take account of rising prices

Comment

They might not know it yet, and it is likely to pass the rest of us by entirely, but for more than two and half million families, today is a very big day.

9 May 2022

Higher inflation means an unintended cut to the Chancellor's spending plans

Report

IFS Senior Research Ben Zaranko responds to the Spring Statement for Public Finance.

29 March 2022

High inflation threatens to raise nightmare scenario for pensioners

Comment

Director Paul Johnson on the effects of inflation on pension policy in The Times.

28 March 2022

Spring Statement: inflation, living standards and uncertainty

Podcast

We look at the Chancellor's Spring Statement and discuss how effective it is, and what the long-term implications are.

25 March 2022

Suited man walks past signs to UK Parliament

Pre-Spring Statement Presentation

Presentation

Pre-Spring Statement Presentation

21 March 2022

Consumer bankruptcy, mortgage default and labour supply

Working Paper

We estimate a lifecycle model of consumption, housing demand and labor supply where individuals may file for bankruptcy or default on their mortgage.

18 March 2022

Sunak could delay the pain for households but he can’t take it away

Comment

"We haven’t lived through a period like this perhaps since the oil crisis of 1973. That made us poorer. This crisis will also make us poorer."

14 March 2022

Stimulus payments and private transfers

Working Paper

We report a survey experiment where individuals were asked how they would respond to a £500 payment.

17 February 2022

Government uses high inflation as cover for hitting students, graduates and universities

Comment

Using inflation as a cover, the government is cutting maintenance loans, increasing student loan repayments and lowering maximum tuition fees.

10 February 2022

Helping the poor is easy, chancellor, everyone else may just have to suffer

Comment

Paul Johnson considers what HM Treasury civil servants might be advising Rishi Sunak in response to the cost-of-living crisis.

31 January 2022

Price floors and externality correction

Journal article

We evaluate the impact of a price floor for alcohol introduced in Scotland in 2018, using a difference-in-differences strategy with England as a contr

31 January 2022