The effects of coronavirus on household finances and financial distress

Publication type

Research Paper

Series Number

BN298

Series

Institute for Fiscal Studies Briefing Notes

Authors

Publication date

June 15, 2020

Summary:

The effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy has been huge. National income fell by 20% in April, to a level last seen in the early 2000s. But the impact of this vast aggregate shock on the finances of different households will vary widely.

In this report, we use a novel source of real-time data on households’ finances from Money Dashboard, a budgeting app, to explore the impacts of the crisis so far on earnings, incomes and financial distress, and how they are evolving. We complement this with household survey data to explain and verify the key trends.

Subjects

Link

https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14908

Notes

Referenced by: Great Britain. HM Treasury (2020) ‘Impact of COVID 19 on working household incomes distributional analysis as of May 2020’. London: HM Treasury.

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