IFS Zooms In: The Economy

More young people than ever are going to university, but the financial stakes have also risen. Many graduates begin their careers with around £50,000 of student debt and could make repayments for up to 40 years. While some degrees deliver substantial lifetime earnings gains, others may leave graduates financially worse off than if they had not attended university.

Helen Miller is joined by IFS economists Christine Farquharson and Kate Ogden to examine what the evidence tells us about the financial returns to higher education.

They discuss why graduate outcomes vary so widely across subjects, institutions and students; whether low-earning courses provide value to taxpayers; and whether government should restrict funding for degrees with poor financial outcomes.

They also consider how artificial intelligence and wider labour-market disruption could affect today’s students, and whether historic earnings data can reliably guide decisions about careers that may last into the 2070s.

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The government has launched a new Pensions Commission, raising the prospect of significant changes to how people save for retirement.

Are people currently saving enough? Should minimum workplace pension contributions rise? And what should the government do about low pension saving among the self-employed?

Christine Farquharson is joined by IFS researchers Jonathan Cribb and Heidi Karjalainen to examine what future pensioners can expect. They discuss what counts as an adequate retirement income, how housing and inheritances affect people’s needs, and why the right policy may differ across generations.

They also explore whether people should be encouraged to save more at particular stages of their working lives, and whether policymakers should be concerned about people drawing on their pension wealth before reaching state pension age.

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Andy Burnham is preparing to enter Downing Street, but he will inherit a government facing tight fiscal constraints and a series of difficult decisions.

The public finances remain under pressure, debt interest spending is high, and commitments not to raise the main rates of income tax, National Insurance or VAT limit some of the most obvious ways of raising revenue. At the same time, the new Prime Minister will need to make choices about departmental spending, defence, welfare, social care and the cost of living.

How much flexibility will Burnham have over taxes, borrowing and public spending? Which commitments could be maintained, and which might need to be scaled back? And will a change of Prime Minister create space for a different economic strategy - or reveal the same underlying constraints?

Christine Farquharson is joined by IFS colleagues Max Warner and Tom Waters to examine the economic choices facing the incoming Prime Minister.

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Over the past few weeks, devolution has moved back to the centre of British politics. Andy Burnham has made the case for a “rewired Britain”: shifting power away from Westminster and Whitehall, creating a new “No 10 North” in Manchester, and giving local leaders a much bigger role in shaping economic policy.

But what does devolution actually mean? Who would power be devolved to? What responsibilities could local leaders take on? How would they be funded? And could devolution really help the UK economy grow?

Christine Farquharson is joined by Tony Travers, Professor in Practice in the LSE Department of Government, Associate Dean of the LSE School of Public Policy and Director of LSE London, and David Phillips, Associate Director at the IFS, to discuss what devolution means, how England compares internationally, whether “Manchesterism” offers lessons for the rest of the country, and what risks come with giving places more fiscal responsibility.

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What makes a job “good”? Is it pay, flexibility, progression, security, purpose, autonomy, or the people you work with?

Policy debates about inequality often focus on wages and getting people into work. But jobs are about much more than income. The quality of work affects people’s health, wellbeing, productivity, family life and future opportunities.

In this episode, Helen Miller is joined by Jonathan Cribb and Naomi Clayton, Chief Executive of the Institute for Employment Studies, to explore what good work really means, who gets access to good jobs, and what government can do to improve the quality of work in the UK.

They discuss inequalities in pay, gender and geography, the importance of progression and training, the rise of flexible and insecure work, the role of employment rights, and how trends such as AI could shape the future of jobs.

This is the fourth and final episode in our series on inequality.

This episode draws on work done as part of the IFS-Deaton Review, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

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