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Wealth & assets


In recent decades household wealth in Great Britain has risen from around three times national income to almost seven times, driven by higher house prices and pension valuations. This rise has profound implications for society, since wealth and assets provide security for all who have it, and power for a few at the top. Recently there have been advances in measurement, but not so much in understanding the implications for society. Our work assesses what the distribution means for living standards today, how wealth taxation could be reformed, and how policy might promote wealth accumulation for all.

Contacts

Molly Broome

Economist
T: 0203 372 2954
E: molly.broome@resolutionfoundation.org
Publications

In too deep?

The impact of the cost of living crisis on household debt

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Hard economic times and rising interest rates have brought a renewed focus on household debt in recent years, with concerns that more and more families could find themselves overwhelmed by…
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Publications

Precautionary tales

Tackling the problem of low saving among UK households

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Families in Britain are confronted with what can be termed a ‘triple savings challenge’. This encompasses a lack of accessible ‘rainy day’ savings to cushion small cashflow shocks, inadequate precautionary…
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Events

The wealth of a nation

What the changing size and shape of household wealth means for Scotland

This event was in Edinburgh. Record low interest rates over the past 30 years led to a wealth boom, with Scottish households seeing wealth rise by £700 billion since the…
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Publications

Peaked Interest?

What higher interest rates mean for the size and distribution of Britain's household wealth

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Over the past four decades, the total value of wealth owned by UK households has been on a seemingly-relentless upward path: rising from around three-times GDP in the mid 1980s…
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Events

From boom to gloom?

The winners and losers from rising rates and falling wealth

Britain has experienced a 30-year wealth boom, driven by record low interest rates, causing unprecedented levels of intergenerational inequality. But this has now been brought to an abrupt end, with…
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Comment

Britain’s inheritance boom could further decouple people’s retirement age from their state pension age

It’s inheritance and where you live which are the barriers to retirement

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The UK’s state pension age is going up – and perhaps faster than expected. The age at which you can draw the state pension is due to rise from 66…
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Comment

Expand the Help to Save scheme to help the poorest

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It would be hard to miss the fact that the UK economy is currently in bad shape. A 40-year high in inflation, falling incomes and ever more industrial action are…
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