[…] smokers with time-inconsistent preferences commit to giving up or reducing the amount they smoke. We use almost 20 years of British individual-level panel data to explore the impact on self-reported psychological well-being of two policy interventions: large real-terms increases in tobacco excise taxes and bans on smoking in public places. We use a difference-in-differences […]

[…] 2011 to March 2012. The latest figures cover a period where the Scottish economy and wider UK economy were both showing little GDP growth and average earnings fell in real terms. These figures include the impact of some changes to benefits resulting from welfare reform, but precede the more significant changes implemented in April 2013.

[…] of employment or not having a job at all. These trends are correlated with the improvement in the British economy after the early-1990s recession and before the impact of the 2007/8 recession was felt. The findings about volatility trends differ from those for the USA in several respects. In particular there has been no […]

[…] of employment or not having a job at all. These trends are correlated with the improvement in the British economy after the early-1990s recession and before the impact of the 2007/8 recession was felt. The findings about volatility trends differ from those for the USA in several respects. In particular there has been no […]

[…] women separately. Not only is a high level of wellbeing a positive end in itself, it also predicts living a longer and more healthy life. Potential policy impact For a long time both social research and social policy have focused on counting and avoiding negative outcomes, rather than measuring and developing positive assets. This […]

[…] incentives are heterogeneous with respect to housing tenure. In Germany, labour markets do not affect the choice of the secondary school track, while they have a significant impact on the transition to tertiary education. As the educational decisions of young people are responsive to changes in the expected gains from education, and bearing in […]

This paper examines the likely impact of Universal Credit (UC) on the incomes and work incentives of families containing NMW workers. The study, by the Institute of Social and Economic Research, considers tax and benefit data on the basis that families don’t alter their employment (or other) decisions in response to Universal Credit (UC), […]

[…] respondents’ consent, this paper provides an innovative contribution to the studies in this field. Analysing experimental data collected in a nationally representative household panel survey of the British population, we find that interview features such as question format (dependent/independent questions) and placement of the consent question within the questionnaire have an impact on consent rates.

While a large literature has focused on the impact of parental investments on child cognitive development, very little is known about the role of child’s own investments. Information on how children invest their time separately from parents is probably little informative for babies and toddlers, but it becomes more and more important in later […]