This paper discusses a theoretical framework to study the issues of competition and incentives without relying on the standard profit-oriented market model in the context of the debates about public service reform in the UK.
In the previous edition, we argued that governments might care about child poverty for reasons of equity and efficiency, and we introduced the concept of an equivalence scale as a way to help compare well-being across different sorts of households.
This paper argues that a common basis for government spending across the regions and territories of the UK will be more equitable and efficient, and may even depoliticise the financial framework of the UK.
When Chancellor Gordon Brown delivered his pre-budget report on November 27th, no one doubted that he would reduce his forecasts for economic growth and raise his estimates of government borrowing.
In 1997, the Labour Party was elected in the UK with few explicitly articulated ideas about social security reforms. This paper reviews the large number of subsequent reforms to social security, and argues that some consistent themes have emerged.
This briefing note looks at the interaction of the tax and benefit system with stakeholder pensions. In particular, it asks how, in the light of recent reforms to the system of state pension provision, the welfare system differentially affects the incentive to invest in a stakeholder scheme for various groups in the population.
