This paper provides a non-technical review of the evidence on the returns to education and training for the individual, the firm and the economy at large. It begins by reviewing the empirical work that has attempted to estimate the true causal effect of education and training on individual...

In any policy-orientated study of family welfare, it is inevitable that some comparison of welfare between households with different compositions will be required, and the theory of (adult) equivalence scales aims to formalise the way in which these comparisons may be made. An adult equivalence...

It is 20 years ago this July that the committee under the chairmanship of James Meade was set up by the Institute for Fiscal Studies to take a fundamental look at the UK tax structure. What it produced stands as a landmark in the history of tax policy analysis and was an important springboard...

This paper looks at the policy debate surrounding private pensions and retirement patterns in the UK. Recent increases in longevity have led not only to increased pressures in public pensions but also to corresponding increases in the importance of private pensions in the UK and changes in the...