We model the dynamics of social assistance benefit receipt in Britain using data from the British Household Panel Survey, waves 1-15. First, we discuss definitions of social assistance benefit receipt, and present information about the trends between 1991 and 2005 in the receipt of social...

We analyse why child poverty rates were much higher in Britain than in Western Germany during the 1990s, using a framework that focuses on poverty transition rates. Child poverty exit rates were significantly lower, and poverty entry rates significantly higher, in Britain. We decompose these...

We examine the determinants of low income transitions using first-order Markov models that control for initial conditions effects (those found to be poor in the base year may be a non-random sample) and for attrition (panel retention may also be non-random). Our econometric model is a form of...

Applying a method suggested by Woodruff (Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1971), we derive the sampling variances of Generalized Entropy and Atkinson inequality indices when estimated from complex survey data. It turns out that this method also greatly simplifies the calculations...

This paper analyses the economic impact of becoming disabled for British working-age men. The data is from the five eight waves (1991/8) of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). Cross-sectional evidence shows that the income of disabled working-age men is substantially lower than...

Most UK surveys, including those used each year to derive the official UK income distribution statistics ('Households Below Average Income'), provides measures of current household income rather than annual household income, which is the measure used in most other countries. Using British...