Analysis and action on living standards
Intergenerational fairness has risen up the agenda in recent years. From job and housing insecurity experienced by young people, to a social care system not fit to support older generations, Britain faces living standards challenges that affect different generations in different ways.
Responding effectively to these challenges means understanding what’s driving them, and how they can be addressed. The Intergenerational Centre has been set up as a home for this analysis and policy thinking, looking at living standards through a generational lens.
When place and demography collide
Demographic divergence matters for local government, for local economies, and for our politics. This report describes differences in ageing in different regions across the UK, and examines the implications for our politics and policy.
The role of a state safety net in supporting young people develop and transition to an independent, healthy future
This report reviews the state-provided financial safety net available to young adults, and how it has changed over time. It finds that young people have always relied more on benefits than working-age adults. But this gap has narrowed over recent
Intergenerational Centre
The nature and timing of poverty varies much more than we think between generations and over the lifecycle. Understanding these shifts is crucial if we are to make the right interventions to reduce poverty throughout society.
I have been exploring the issue of equity between generations for over a decade now, from writing The Pinch to Chairing the Resolution Foundation’s recent Intergenerational Commission.
This work has left me even more convinced that equity between generations is one of the biggest issues facing 21st century Britain.
The Intergenerational Centre will be at the heart of solving the many challenges that this issue throws up – from exploring the income and wealth gaps across generations, to rebuilding the social contract between generations that has been allowed to fray in recent decades.
— Lord David Willetts
How have pay, home ownership, consumption and wealth diverged for different age groups? How do cohorts’ living standards today measure up against those of their predecessors at the same age? How do these patterns differ across regions, and across the sexes? This interactive data dashboard, which sits alongside our Intergenerational audit for the UK, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, allows you to explore the answers to these questions and more.
Intergenerational progress – the idea that each successive cohort should have higher living standards than predecessors at the same age – has slowed down markedly for today’s young adults. This puts their experience in stark contrast to the rapid cohort-on-cohort...
This report reviews the state-provided financial safety net available to young adults, and how it has changed over time. It finds that young people have always relied more on benefits than working-age adults. But this gap has narrowed over recent...
Britain is getting older. Life expectancy is rising and, with Britain’s large post-war baby boomer generation now moving into retirement, a growing proportion of our population are pensioners. But not all parts of Britain are ageing at the same pace,...
In the first of a series of events focused on intergenerational fairness, a panel of experts explore whether Britain does have a generational contract, and what that means for our politics, economics and society.
How can we push forward a sustainable solution to Britain’s care crisis? Event with speakers including former Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green, former Shadow Minister for Care Liz Kendall, and former Minister for Care Norman Lamb.
This article summarises a speech by Professor David Runciman at a recent Intergenerational Centre event exploring what the concept of generational fairness means for our politics, economics and society. You can watch the full event on our event page. This...
Class used to predict how people would vote in Britain and elsewhere — in 1974 if you were a member of the working class you were three times more likely to vote Labour than Conservative. Now the distribution of votes...
When economists and policy makers talk about living standards they think in terms of real (equivalised) household disposable incomes (before or after housing costs). This is a good approach to take, but it’s not how most people think. A more...
Explore our database of academic, think-tank and policy research to find out more about how living standards differ across and within generations, both in the UK and elsewhere.
Explore our library of videos that summarise the key messages from our research, and catch up on our past generational living standards-themed events.
