Suchergebnisse

This report sets out what has happened to income and expenditure inequality in the 1990s and early 2000s, comparing the changes to previous decades. Although income is very often used for assessing living standards in this country, spending is often more informative, because many people can choose to borrow, save or run down their savings at any given time, in order to adjust their standard of living. We show that the 1990s were quite different to the 1980s both in terms of income and expenditure inequality. Both income and spending inequality returned to a fluctuating path in the 1990s, in contrast to the sustained increases in inequality in both measures of material well-being that took place over the 1980s. Despite these fluctuations, although expenditure inequality has fallen slightly from its peak in 1990, income inequality remains at a 40 year high. The fact that there has been no big reversal in income inequality, despite very large redistribution by the Government, suggests that era of high inequality ushered in during the 1980s may be here for some time to come.

This report sets out what has happened to income and expenditure inequality in the 1990s and early 2000s, comparing the changes to previous decades. Although income is very often used for assessing living standards in this country, spending is often more informative, because many people can choose to borrow, save or run down their savings at any given time, in order to adjust their standard of living. We show that the 1990s were quite different to the 1980s both in terms of income and expenditure inequality. Both income and spending inequality returned to a fluctuating path in the 1990s, in contrast to the sustained increases in inequality in both measures of material well-being that took place over the 1980s. Despite these fluctuations, although expenditure inequality has fallen slightly from its peak in 1990, income inequality remains at a 40 year high. The fact that there has been no big reversal in income inequality, despite very large redistribution by the Government, suggests that era of high inequality ushered in during the 1980s may be here for some time to come.

This paper undertakes a quantitative analysis of substantial reforms to the system of higher education (HE) finance in England, first announced in 2004 and revised in 2007. The reforms introduced deferred fees for HE, payable by graduates through the tax system via income-contingent repayments on loans subsidised by the government. The paper uses lifetime earnings simulated by the authors to consider the likely distributional consequences of the reforms for graduates. It also considers the costs of the reforms for taxpayers, and how the reforms are likely to shift the balance of funding for HE between the public and private sectors.