The national debt stock of the UK is rising sharply as a result of the economic crisis, and equilibrium output is falling, with the capital stock contracting. Both problems could be alleviated by the rapid introduction (but slow implementation) of a policy to extend working lives. The paper...

This paper describes the National Institute of Economic and Social Research’s (NIESR)approach to the analysis of the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda. It forms the background to the European Commission Competitiveness Report chapter on spillovers and the Lisbon Process. The paper describes...

The paper discusses the possibility of a systemic banking crisis as a result of debt defaults, putting this risk and its impact on the economy into recent historical context. It looks at the vulnerability of the personal and business sectors to increases in borrowing rates, and at the evidence...

In this paper we construct a framework for evaluating the macroeconomic impact on the UK economy of policies that are aimed at reducing the number of people receiving social security benefits and getting them into employment. By means of model simulations we find that a 5 per cent reduction in...

After a long period of robust growth and low inflation, the economic outlook has darkened. Growth is slowing and inflation is rising. GDP is forecast to grow by 1.5 per cent in 2008 and 1.4 per cent in 2009. Much of the growth will come from net trade, which will contribute 0.5 per cent to...