Policy
Recent research and publications on policy
PCS: Britain Needs a Pay Rise argues that the fall in the value of pay could be a major obstacle to the return of economic growth. (12th February 2013)
Policy Exchange: ‘Outcomes, Not Just Incomes’ said the Government should consider social factors other than income alone in determining poverty. (8th February 2013)
OECD: Economic Survey of the United Kingdom 2013 recommended that the UK government should pursue growth-enhancing & inequality-reducing structural reforms. (February 2013)
LSE Growth Commission/Institute for Government: Investing for Prosperity proposed that median income – not just GDP – should be tracked to measure the health of our economy. (1st February 2013)
IPPR/Resolution Foundation: Joint research found that widespread use of the Living Wage could save the exchequer £2billion. (2nd January 2013)
One Society: The Coalition Government and income inequality – The Half Term Report. Brings together expert opinions to ask whether or not the UK government has acted to address the UK’s high level of income inequality, finding its record wanting. (November 2012)
Resolution Foundation: Gaining From Growth. The final report from the Commission on living standards – sets out key recommendations on how to ensure growth over the next decade is broadly shared, and prevent stagnation of living standards in low to middle income households. (31st October 2012)
CEPR: Bad Jobs on the Rise. Argues that the restructuring of the US labour market has reduced the bargaining power of US workers, increasing the share of bad jobs in the economy. (September 2012)
A report by the Housing Federation. Shows house prices rose three times as much as average incomes over ten years. (17th August 2012)
Newcastle Fairness Commission: Final Report July 2012. Offers a set of principles, examples, and considerations on public services, citizenship, public attitudes to fairness and matters of wealth and income. (3rd August)
Resolution Foundation: Fairer by design: efficient tax reform for those on low to middle incomes. Finds the current system of redistribution through taxation and welfare is inefficient and could be reformed to give more support to those on low and middle incomes whilst reducing economic costs.(30thJuly)
TUC and NEF: The economic impact of local and regional pay in the public sector. Says proposals for regional pay bargaining would have serious negative economic impacts, and the case in favour is “not supported by the evidence”. (16thJuly).
The Sutton Trust: Educating the Highly Able. England’s teenagers are just over half as likely to reach the highest levels in maths in international tests as students from other developed nations, ranking 26th out of the 34 OECD countries (6thJuly 2012).
The RSA: Time for a Plan C. Resolution Foundation’s Gavin Kelly on how slow growth impacts living standards and some fair pay solutions(6thJuly 2012).
Church of England: Testing the Bridges. Report on riotswarns of the potential effect of cuts “against a background of very wide and growing inequality of wealth” (9thJuly 2012).
Resolution Foundation: Assessing the impact of tax credits in the last decade and considering what this means for Universal Credit. Finds evidence of success in relation to poverty reduction, income support and overall employment (27thJune 2012).
Oxfam: The Perfect Storm. Argues the UK has a perfect storm of economic stagnation, rising cost of living, and public spending cuts, which is causing substantial hardship to people living in poverty (14thJune 2012).
Child Poverty Action Group: Ending Child Poverty by 2020: Progress made and lessons learned. Shows that the child poverty approach pursued between 1998 and 2010 dramatically reduced child poverty but reductions may be reversed by current policies and conditions (12thJune 2012).
Shelter and Resolution Foundation: Housing in transition: Understanding the dynamics of tenure change.Warns of steep increases in number of parents unable to buy homes (10thJune 2012).
Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Poverty: The role of institutions, behaviours and cultures. Reviews the evidence on the causes of poverty, finding that policy has an important role to play (June 2012).
Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Reforming Council Tax Benefit. Proposed changes to Council Tax Benefit “would hit poor households hardest” (31st May 2012).
CBI and Harvey Nash: Cautious approach to pay the ‘new normal’. Survey shows nearly half of UK firms plan below-inflation or targeted wage rises and 1 in 5 plan a pay freeze (31st May 2012).
Nuffield Trust: Reforming social care: options for funding shows UK pensioners are getting richer (29th May 2012).
Review of Economic Studies: The Impact of Immigration on the UK Labour Market finds that between 1997 and 2005 immigration had a marginal effect on wages of UK-born workers (May 2012).
IPPR/ Danny Dorling: The case for austerity among the rich. Discussion paper arguing that, if a freed-up market does not bring growth within the current parliament, and so even more money needs to be saved, we should introduce austerity for the rich (27th March 2012).
The Ditchley Foundation: Income inequality and its impact on economic management and growth. Conference report including a set of policy proposals aimed at tacking income inequality (24th March 2012).
IFS: Tax and benefit changes, excluding those affecting mainly the very rich. Shows how the budget will impact income, by decile – see slide #12 (22nd March 2012).
IFS: A £10,000 personal allowance: who would benefit, and would it boost the economy? Shows how some of the richest households in the country stand to benefit from the personal tax allowance threshold (9th March 2012).
Jonathan Haidt: Sharing the spoils. Psychologist discusses recent research and finds that greater inequality doesn’t create desire to ‘share-the-spoils’, but knowledge that spoils come from joint effort does. (20th February 2012)
TUC: Economic report. Finds better wages and business investment are only way to secure economic recovery (February 2012)
Centre Forum: Employee empowerment – towards greater workplace democracy. A package of measures that the government should consider to promote employee empowerment and workplace democracy (9th January 2012).
Institute of Directors: Response to BIS consultation on executive remuneration. Calls for binding shareholder vote on pay, simplified remuneration packages and increased transparency on conflicts of interest on remuneration panels. (25th November 2011)
National Institute of Economic and Social Research: National Institute Economic Review: with a focus on poverty and inequality. Finds current government policies are likely to increase inequality and stifle social mobility (1st November 2011).
Compass:Plan B: A good economy for a good society. Ideas to tackle excessive pay inequality – at the top and bottom of pay scales (1st November 2011).
New Economics Foundation: Why the Rich Are Getting Richer – The determinants of economic inequality. Examines the policies of more equal countries, finding that inequality is not inevitable and can be effectively tackled by addressing its root causes (2nd November 2011).
Darren Johnson, Green Party Assembly Member: A Fair Pay Mark for London. Outlines how the mayor could build on the progress with the London Living wage to press for more equal pay, with a Fair Pay Mark for UK employers, similar to the Fairtrade mark (November 2011).
Alesina and Angeletos: Fairness and Redistribution US versus Europe. Argues societies that believe individual effort determines income, chose low redistribution and low taxes. Societies that believe luck, birth, connections and/or corruption determine wealth, will tax a lot (2003).
Paola Giuliano and Antonio Spilimbergo. Growing Up in a Recession: Beliefs and the Macroeconomy. Shows individuals growing up during recessions tend to believe that success in life depends more onluck than on effort, support more government redistribution, but are less confident in public institutions. (August 2009)