David Phillips

David is an Associate Director at the IFS working in the Pensions and Public Finances sector. Presently, David is helping lead two main areas of research at the Institute. First is work on devolved and local government finance, with a particular focus on the incentives and risks that different systems entail for sub-national government, and their responses to these. This includes work on implementing the Smith Commission proposals for Scotland and on the ongoing major changes to English local government finance. Second is work on tax and social protection policy in developing countries, including the IFS’s DfID-funded Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries (TAXDEV). This centre aims to generate new research, analysis and in-country analytical capacity in the area of tax and benefit policy and administration in (or of relevance to) DfID-priority countries, including Ghana and Ethiopia. Further work is being undertaken in countries such as Mexico and Jordan, and in cross-country studies.

David is also finalising work on the behavioural effects of National Insurance contributions and the UK’s short-lived 50% income tax rate. He also has experience of working on a range of other issues including poverty and inequality; labour supply; consumer demand; human capital investment; and social capital. This experience helps inform his ongoing research, especially on tax policy design in developing countries.