On 7 September 2021, the government announced reforms to the social care system in order to provide more support to people with fewer financial resources. A recent announcement on 17 November 2021 casts doubt on whether these reforms will be worth the costs borne by younger generations. John Hobby, IF researcher, investigates whether this is… Read more »
Category: Economics
COP26: Degrowth as a solution to the climate crisis
John Hobby, IF Researcher, looks at why GDP is an imperfect measure of human wellbeing and how changing how we think about growth could help us improve global living standards while reducing environmental degradation. Green Growth has become the established theoretical and policy response to tackling climate change and ecological breakdown, with talk of a… Read more »
COP26: progress on forest protection for future generations
Intergenerational Foundation Co-Founder, Angus Hanton, assesses the agreement between national leaders concerning forest protection and recovery at COP26 on Tuesday last week. Will their agreement be enough to protect “the lungs of the Earth”? What more can and should be done to protect forests and rainforests for the sake of young people and future generations?… Read more »
Rise in National Living Wage not enough to help younger people
The government announced a rise in the National Living Wage this week, presenting it as a win for lower-paid working people. Lizzie Simpson, IF Researcher, discusses the details of this rise in the context of inflation and rising costs of living, and questions the merit of the UK’s age-based minimum wage system. Changes to the… Read more »
High rents leave families with unaffordable housing costs
A new report from Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) finds that one million families are paying rents that they cannot afford. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, takes a look at the research. 1 million families paying rent they cannot afford According to the JRF research, one million households are paying rents they cannot afford. These are private… Read more »
National Insurance: young people and lower earners hit the hardest
Yesterday, MPs voted to approve raising employees’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by 1.25 percentage points, breaking a key manifesto promise not to raise taxes. While the government marketed the rise as “progressive”, in reality it is an intergenerationally unfair tax reform which will affect younger generations the most. Lizzie Simpson, IF Researcher, explains. A regressive… Read more »
Overqualified and underemployed: a sombre snapshot of the labour market for young people
Graduates are leaving university with scant prospects, feeling let down by policy-makers and waking up to the generational divide. Carlotta Hartmann, IF Intern, investigates the labour market pressures facing young Brits today Graduates feeling let down Young people across OECD countries have been disproportionately affected by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to… Read more »
National insurance, intergenerational fairness and paying for social care
Robert Ashton looks at how National Insurance could be changed for the better, raising more money to pay for social care without penalising younger generations, many of whom are already paying a greater part of their incomes than previous generations on high rents and student loan repayments. How can we make National Insurance work better… Read more »
What does fewer births mean for intergenerational fairness?
Conceptions are falling in England and Wales. Liz Emerson, IF Co-founder, looks at the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Latest data released by the ONS show a 2.1% fall in the number of conceptions in England and Wales between 2018 and 2019. This was the largest annual decrease since 2012.… Read more »
It’s time for post-COVID payback for Australia’s young people
Australia has been called a “lucky country” thanks to very low COVID-19 deaths, but that has come at an economic cost to younger Australians who have not fared well. Think Forward, a newly established lobby group for young Australians who want politicians to prioritise and take action on issues of intergenerational fairness, argues that young… Read more »