A criticism of the IFS

Everyone agrees that the UK Institute of Fiscal Studies is great. It is perhaps best known for its commentary of macro budgetary issues, but...

Going for balance

The Green Budget analysis just released by the IFS contains a lot of material. (For a very reasonable summary, see this from the FT.) One p...

That £170 billion bombshell

Paul Johnson of the IFS has written that under Labour “national debt [could be] around £170 billion higher (in today’s terms) by the end of...

Wishful thinking and economics

Economics is often called the dismal science, and the Scottish referendum showed why this description has stuck. The Yes side appeared full ...

Hitting the poor and the disabled

In the UK, Wales has a degree of regional autonomy. This has helped shed some light on two aspects of UK government policy: taking income fr...

The UK’s macroeconomic battleground to come

The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) analysis of the specific measures in the Autumn Statement shows a certain degree of frustration. Fro...