Our goal at the Institute for Fiscal Studies is to promote effective
economic and social policies by better understanding how policies affect
individuals, families, businesses and the government's finances.
On Thursday, the government set out its plans for council funding in England next year. In this briefing note we examine plans for both core funding and top-ups for ongoing COVID-19 related costs, and look at some of the issues looming beyond next year.
'Life goes on in Whitehall even as the combined crises of COVID and Brexit come to a head. It is to the credit of our system of government and those who work in it that, over the past couple of weeks, the fruits of much labour on the longer-term crisis that is climate change have emerged in the form of three important policy documents.' Paul Johnson writes about the 'necessary' but 'challenging' steps to net zero emissions in The Times.
Last week, the IFS published research on how the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on consumer spending and behaviour has varied across the country. In a new observation, we consider the implications of this research for local government.
The past nine months have seen huge swings in households’ spending, both in total and across various goods and services. In this briefing note, we analyse the geographical patterns of these changes.
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As we say goodbye to 2020 and ready ourselves for 2021, our Director Paul Johnson sits down with Stephanie Flanders, head of Bloomberg Economics and IFS alumna, to make sense of 2020 and see what we can learn from it going into the New Year.
The pandemic has had profound consequences for incomes, spending, saving, and financial distress. In this event we will bring together evidence from a number of recent pieces of research which use bank account data to shed light on these issues.
We find that reductions in social care spending led to substantial increases in use of Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments by individuals aged 65 and above. The impacts were most pronounced among the very oldest (those aged 85 and above) and those living in more deprived neighbourhoods.
'We have a choice. We can look enviously on those earning more than we do. Or we can recognise, and want to do something about, the struggles of those on the lowest pay. At the very least it’s worth knowing where we sit in the distribution, and just reflecting now and again on where our earnings are relative to that median measure of £24,000.' Paul Johnson in The Times on the public sector pay freeze and what it means for wages.
As the UK has been dealing with coronavirus pandemic this year, we have also been moving closer to the realities of our new relationship with the European Union, and the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1st, 2021. Joining Paul this week to discuss what might happen with Brexit is Professor L. Alan Winters, Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory in the University of Sussex, and leading contributor to the debate of Brexit.
Private pensions and owner-occupied housing are the two most important forms of wealth that the majority of individuals accumulate over their lifetimes. How much to accumulate in these forms, and when, are difficult decisions – requiring individuals to consider both their own preferences for housing versus non-housing consumption (both now and in the future), and the relative financial return from different choices given possible future asset price movements, tax incentives, pension scheme rules, and so on.
News and announcements
Working papers
IFS Working Paper W20/40
IFS Working Paper W20/38
IFS Working Paper W20/39