Living standards· Economy and public finances New Year Outlook 2026 Early and encouraging signs of a mild zombie apocalypse 5 January 2026 by Ruth Curtice and Greg Thwaites …recent times, incomes have grown as slowly as this only in years of big external or self-inflicted shocks: the pandemic in 2020, the energy crisis in 2022-23 and the Brexit… READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption· Trade Trading standards How exposure to global trade shapes our living standards Monday 19 February 2024 Britain is an open economy, and has become more open over recent decades – despite the impact of Brexit and ‘slowbalisation’. But the quantity and type of goods and services… READ MORE
Living standards The cost of living crisis is going to hurt To tackle it, we will also need to address the stagnation which has bedevilled the UK economy for years 3 May 2022 by Torsten Bell …is currently projected. The key task facing politicians of all stripes then is to renew the UK’s economic strategy for a 2020s shaped by Brexit, Covid-19 and the net zero… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Economic growth Are you better off today? Real income growth under different governments since 1955 3 November 2021 by Adam Corlett …a period of relatively steady growth over much of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.1 More recently, it also shows the shocks of the financial crisis, the post-Brexit-referendum inflation spike, and… READ MORE
Universal Credit· Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Welfare The big squeeze Assessing the changes to family incomes over the next six months 26 September 2021 by Karl Handscomb …2014 and immediately after the Brexit referendum (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Inflation is set to erode the real value of earnings this winter and beyond Moreover, there are… READ MORE
Living standards The Living Standards Outlook 2021 18 January 2021 by Mike Brewer and Adam Corlett and Karl Handscomb and Daniel Tomlinson …of economy support closely to the easing of the public health restrictions, a strong fiscal stimulus, and moving a post-Brexit and post-Covid UK onto a path of faster productivity growth…. READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty New data shows households were struggling even before coronavirus 26 March 2020 by Adam Corlett …fall in 2017-18. These are figures not normally seen outside periods of recession and reflect the high inflation seen following the Brexit vote. So, the coronavirus recession is arriving only… READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption Family spending before the coronavirus crisis helps us to understand its potential impact 23 March 2020 by Fahmida Rahman …stagnation in consumption, in part due to two years’ worth of Brexit-induced uncertainty, is likely get much worse as the economic impacts of coronavirus play out over the rest of… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Inequality & poverty Charting the UK’s lost decade of income growth 5 March 2020 by Adam Corlett …and the period of high inflation that followed the Brexit vote: a double whammy for household finances. The long march of pensioner living standards progress Of course, these averages hide… READ MORE
Living standards· Social care· Inequality & poverty· Welfare The child poverty crisis needs pushing up the agenda in Britain’s ‘Brexit’ election None of the main party manifestos will end child poverty 27 November 2019 by Laura Gardiner Both the main parties have learnt lessons from the 2017 election. The Conservatives have learnt not to scare the horses with big new policies. Their 2019 manifesto is very much… READ MORE
Living standards· Tax· Welfare· Political parties and elections The choice facing Britain: What the manifestos reveal Thursday 28 November 2019 …to tax and benefits, and their priorities for crime and climate change. And yes, of course, Brexit. What are the big-picture takeaways from each manifesto? How deliverable are the parties’… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty· Welfare The benefit freeze has ended, but erosion of the social security safety net continues Expected benefit uprating in April 2020 16 October 2019 by Adam Corlett …post-Brexit boost to living standards. Alternatively, the government might be forced to act by a recession. Whatever the cause of that recession, benefit increases would likely need to be an… READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption· Trade· Tax After Brexit the UK could cut VAT on energy – but should it? 2 September 2019 by Adam Corlett …could consider: 1) Give money to those in poverty Beyond demonstrating that some things are possible post-Brexit that weren’t before, what is the goal of the policy? Based on the… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Inequality & poverty Last year saw living standards stagnate and poverty rise 28 March 2019 by Adam Corlett …But if they can ever finish debating Brexit, they should consider what course they’d like poverty to take in the 2020s and how exactly they intend to achieve that. … READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Economy and public finances As growth slows UK households have already taken a £1,500 living standards hit since the referendum 11 February 2019 by Torsten Bell …not just the fact of Brexit dragging on growth and incomes. The long-run impact of Brexit on our economy will of course depend on what we eventually agree by way… READ MORE
Living standards· Trade· Economy and public finances Counting the cost: UK living standards since the 2016 referendum 11 February 2019 by James Smith Household incomes are around £1,500 year lower today than they were expected to be before the Brexit referendum – with the UK having experienced the sharpest income growth slowdown of… READ MORE
Living standards· Productivity & industrial strategy· Pay· Economic growth Decoupling wages and recoupling living standards Top of the Charts 30 November 2018 Afternoon all, This week saw several major studies on the economic impacts of Brexit end games. Obviously you shouldn’t read them all, partly because you’ve got lives to lead,… READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty· Trade· Economic growth Dis-United Kingdom? Inequality, growth and the Brexit divide 25 May 2018 by Matthew Whittaker …an unprecedentedly toxic combination is therefore especially worrying. Brexit: not just economics, stupid At first glance, the link between economics and the vote for Brexit appears obvious. Figure 1 details… READ MORE
Living standards· Intergenerational Centre Repairing Britain’s generational divide: The Intergenerational Commission’s Final Report launch Tuesday 8 May 2018 From the Brexit vote and the shock election result last year to the housing crisis and Britain’s painful pay squeeze – the issue of intergenerational fairness has hit centre stage… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Labour market How to get family incomes growing again 16 April 2018 by Torsten Bell …is that some economic shocks can feed through very quickly indeed into our wages. In cases where Britain is either the only country affected by a shock (Brexit) or particularly… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Living standards· Inequality & poverty· Economy and public finances Should the Office for Budget Responsibility also forecast inequality? 2 March 2018 by Adam Corlett The strengths and weaknesses of economic forecasting are under scrutiny, perhaps like never before. How might GDP perform under different Brexit policies compared to a world with no Brexit? Is… READ MORE
Living standards Beating the forecasts: can Britain overcome official projections for weak growth and flat incomes? Thursday 22 February 2018 …from a smooth Brexit transition, what domestic policies are needed to bring back strong, shared, sustainable economic growth that feeds through into living standards? At an event at its Westminster… READ MORE
Living standards New Year, New Politics: An Attlee settlement for 21st century Britain Tuesday 30 January 2018 January is traditionally a time to take on exciting new challenges, and British politics is no exception. The country faces a number of domestic issues beyond Brexit, from the shape… READ MORE
Living standards New Year, New Politics: A Conservative programme for economic and social renewal Monday 29 January 2018 January is traditionally a time to take on exciting new challenges, and British politics is no exception. The country faces a number of domestic issues beyond Brexit, from the shape… READ MORE
Living standards· Trade· Economy and public finances There’s much uncertainty about a ‘No Deal’ Brexit, but what we do know would be bad for living standards 17 October 2017 by Torsten Bell …task further, in the case of Brexit Britain while we know big change is coming, we don’t know what form that big change will actually take. Even if it’s for… READ MORE
