Angus Hanton looks at the pros and cons of rising inflation, and its effects on interest rates Inflation is now running at about 5% pa, with interest rates standing at below 1%. The result is that, when you take account of inflation, real interest rates are negative, so that savers are seeing their savings reduced… Read more »
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Does the increase in pension contributions for government workers matter intergenerationally?
Angus Hanton looks at the proposals for meeting the gaping liabilities in public-service pensions In the UK we are saving too little, according to the experts such as Martin Weale of the Bank of England. This ties up with personal observations: people expect to live longer, they expect to spend more, and they retire at… Read more »
Large scale tax avoidance in the housing market
Angus Hanton shows how current tax loopholes have intergenerational consequences People disagree on how housing should be taxed. Some people would like to see higher annual holding taxes, whether this is called Council Tax, Land Value Tax or just Property Tax, while others want to see the introduction of Capital Gains Tax on residential house… Read more »
The Church and Intergenerational Justice
Angus Hanton explains why, as he sees it, the Church(es) are not on board when it comes to intergenerational matters It is perhaps surprising that British Churches, both Protestant and Catholic, have been so quiet on the subject of Intergenerational Justice, both in relation to imbalances between younger and older generations and in relation to… Read more »
How is happiness distributed intergenerationally?
Angus Hanton sees happiness as a valuable benefit of intergenerational sharing It is becoming fashionable to consider measures of happiness in formulating policy, but the essential pattern of happiness is well known.
“Natural Wastage” and its intergenerational impact
Angus Hanton argues that using “natural wastage” as a policy for staff reduction has a negative impact on youth employment A classic insider/outsider problem arises when a firm or government department needs to sack people. Okay, “sacking” is too brutal – they need to “reduce headcount” or even to “re-engineer the workforce”.
When would you like to have been born? An intergenerational thought experiment
Angus Hanton suggests a subtle way to winkle out intergenerational attitudes One way of exploring our attitude to intergenerational fairness is to answer a theoretical and imaginary question. The question is, “If you could go outside time and relive your life again and choose when to be born, in which year would you choose to be born… Read more »
A Small Number with Surprisingly Large Consequences: why the government choice of discount rate should interest everyone
How much will the pension promises which we are making today cost us in the future? In this fascinating new analysis, Angus Hanton argues that the government has been guilty of systematically undervaluing the cost of its pension liabilities towards public sector workers in order to avoid having to make difficult political decisions about how… Read more »