For many, inequality has become the dominant lens through which to understand our society. The coronavirus crisis and political upheavals in the US and UK have shone a harsh light on the increasing inequalities we face, and prove that not everyone is affected equally. In our first episode of 2021, we speak with Nobel Laureate Sir Angus Deaton, Professor of Economics at Princeton University and leading expert on inequality, poverty and welfare. He also chairs Inequality: The IFS Deaton Review, our multi-year study into inequality in the modern world, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.https://www.ifs.org.uk/about/membership/individual Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s now cliché to say that 2020 has been unprecedented, but the COVID-19 crisis has turned the lives of billions of us worldwide upside down. From record-level UK government borrowing and a furlough scheme paying the wages of many workers, to society-wide lockdowns and a seemingly ever-shifting regime of tiers, 2020 is a year like no other.As we say goodbye to 2020 and ready ourselves for 2021, our Director Paul Johnson sits down with Stephanie Flanders, head of Bloomberg Economics and IFS alumna, to make sense of 2020 and see what we can learn from it going into the New Year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the UK has been dealing with coronavirus pandemic this year, we have also been moving closer to the realities of our new relationship with the European Union, and the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1st, 2021.What does this mean for our future trading relationships with the EU and beyond? What happens if there is No Deal?Joining Paul this week is Professor L. Alan Winters, Professor of Economics and Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory in the University of Sussex, former Chief Economist of Department for International Development (DFID), and leading contributor to the debate on Brexit.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We often hear about inflation in the news, whether it has gone up or down, and how this impacts the price of everyday goods. But what do economists mean by inflation, how do they measure it, and is inflation the best way of understanding the changes in the price of goods? This week we speak with Martin O'Connell, Deputy Research Director at IFS and author of a recent paper looking at grocery prices during the pandemic, and Ian Crawford, Professor of Economics at Oxford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There has been significant analysis of the furlough scheme in the wake of COVID-19, but far less attention has been paid to the welfare system and how benefits are being affected by the pandemic. The temporary increases to working age benefits implemented this year take total welfare spending to record levels, though the UK’s support system is still thin by international standards. This episode, we speak to Robert Joyce, IFS Deputy Director and Head of our Income, Work and Welfare sector, about how COVID-19 has impacted the UK’s welfare system and what might happen to benefits in future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Government borrowing is never far from the headlines, and in the current crisis, has been a central mechanism for the government to fund its economic support measures. There are many questions around the current level of government debt, whether it is too high, what the long-term implications are and if the government can continue to borrow at its current level. This week we speak with David Miles, Professor at Imperial College London and a former member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England, to answer these questions about government debt in the COVID era. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the public health measures implemented to contain it will lead to a huge spike in government borrowing this year. This week we released our annual Green Budget report analysing the impact the coronavirus crisis has had across different sectors of the economy and the big decisions confronting the Chancellor. In this episode, we speak with Green Budget chapter authors Ben Nabarro, Economist at Citi, and Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director at IFS, to get a sense of how big government borrowing could get and what the long-term impacts will be.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Older workers are one group of people who are at risk of suffering serious and persistent consequences from the economic turmoil arising from the coronavirus pandemic. Previous research has shown that unemployment shocks have persistent effects on the employment and incomes of older workers. In particular, older individuals who lose their jobs are less likely to secure re-employment, or to find a job on a similar wage to their previous earnings, than younger workers. Being unexpectedly out of work, or on lower wages, in the years leading up to retirement can have obvious negative implications for retirement resources. In this episode, we speak with Rowena Crawford, IFS Associate Director, who has recently published research on how the pandemic is impacting older workers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The COVID pandemic has created huge uncertainly for students returning to university. Have student numbers remained stable in the face of the COVID-19 crisis? Has the A Level results debacle had an impact on admissions? Should students be paying full rates for an online-only experience? How are university finances doing more generally in the face of the coronavirus crisis?In this episode, we speak with Jack Britton, education expert at the IFS, to consider some of the complex questions facing the higher education sector. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A socially mobile country provides equal opportunities for everyone, across big cities and small towns, and regardless of whether your parents are rich or poor. Social mobility is never far from the front pages; discussions around education, geographic and intergenerational inequalities and jobs affect everyone. Joining us this week is Lindsey MacMillan, Director of the new Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities and Anna Vignoles, Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.