We employ a behavioural measure of trustworthiness obtained from an experiment carried out with a sample of the general British population whose individuals were extensively interviewed on earlier occasions. These previous interviews allow us to have very good income measures, and in particular...

The importance of noncognitive childhood skills in predicting higher wages is well documented in economics. This paper studies the reverse. Using surveys of lottery winners, we analyze the effects of unearned income on the Big Five personality traits. After correcting for potential endogeneity...

Family income is found to be more closely related to sons' earnings for a cohort born in 1970 compared to one born in 1958. This result is in stark contrast to the finding on the basis of social class; intergenerational mobility for this outcome is found to be unchanged. Our aim here is to...

Are social (occupational) classes coherent, distinct entities? While they reflect an underlying reality, they are more fragmented than theory suggests. It is hypothesised that skill mismatches mean that each class includes a substantial proportion of poorly paid people who could be in the class...

We argue that independent entitlement to income is important. This implies that earnings replacement benefits paid to individuals fulfil a range of functions which means-tested benefits, assessed at the family rather than individual level, cannot. The argument also highlights the need to...

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of disability benefits for the elderly. Using seventeen waves of panel data, it first analyses the extent to which receipt is responsive to changes in disability status. Second, it investigates the extent of delays in first receipt. Third, it compares later...

The aim of this paper is to test the existence of middle class bias in survey cooperation. We do this by carrying out a record check study. Our analysis uncovers no evidence of middle class bias. Instead we find a negative gross bias in estimates of the proportion of persons with highest...

The UK Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a non-means-tested cash benefit claimable initially only by people under 65, but receipt of which can be continued after that age. The similar Attendance Allowance (AA) can only be claimed after age 65. Recent proposals for benefit reform have...

We examine whether financial capability has impacts on psychological health independent of income and financial resources more generally using a nationally representative survey. British Household Panel Survey data are used to construct a measure of financial capability, which we relate to...

Research on the socioeconomic determinants of health is often based on parental assessments of their children's health. We assess this approach by comparing directly evaluations from parents, teachers, children and psychiatrists of three aspects of child mental health from two major UK surveys....