The IF Intergenerational Fairness Index: 2014 Edition

This is the second annual update to the original edition of the Intergenerational Fairness Index, IF’s pioneering attempt to measure intergenerational unfairness in the UK. Further developing the measures established by the previous Editions, this piece of research found that the prospects of young people appear to be worsening across a range of key areas,… Read more »

Higher Education: A Tale of Two Payslips

This report poses the provocative question: “Do we want our future economists, sociologists and historians to be those with the brightest minds and the best ideas or those whose parents have the biggest wallets?” The answer is surely the former rather than the latter, but this study makes it clear that postgraduate higher education in… Read more »

The £600 billion Question: How public sector pension liabilities are being undervalued at the expense of future generations

Britain is handing vast liabilities for public sector pensions over to future generations, warns this new report which has been written on IF’s behalf by the economist Neil Record. Many people are worried that Britain’s public finances are unsustainable. However, the situation is actually much worse than it appears because – in addition to its… Read more »

Squeezed Youth: The Intergenerational Pay Gap and Cost of Living Crisis

Who have been the biggest victims of the “cost of living crisis” which has occurred in Britain since the beginning of the recession in 2008? In this study, IF analyses data taken from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) and the annual Family Spending survey to argue that it is the young who… Read more »

Why BTL (buy-to-let) equals “Big Tax Let-off”

The private rented sector in the UK has witnessed explosive growth since rent restrictions were abolished by the Thatcher government in the late 1980s, a period which has seen thousands of new property investors take up the opportunity to become landlords. Owing to Britain’s acute shortage of new housing, much of this growth has come… Read more »

Funding the Future: How Sovereign Wealth Funds Benefit Future Generations

Should Britain create a sovereign wealth fund to help leave a positive legacy to future generations? Many natural-resource-rich countries have chosen to invest a share of the money generated in a sovereign wealth fund for the benefit of their future citizens. There is a particularly strong intergenerational argument in favour of doing so, as a… Read more »

The IF Regional Unfairness Index: where do young people do worst?

Where do young people fare worst in the UK? This report uses data from IF’s pioneering index of intergenerational unfairness to examine how the problems facing young people vary by region across the UK. By examining a range of different measures of intergenerational unfairness – including housing costs, youth unemployment, levels of engagement with democracy… Read more »

Squeezing our Students? An English/OECD comparison of the student finance burden

The post-2010 reforms to the financing of higher education at English universities have proved extremely controversial. Students on most courses now face the prospect of being charged tuition fees that can cost up to £9,000 per year, and having to pay a higher interest rate on the debt than previous generations of graduates. But how… Read more »

The IF Intergenerational Unfairness Index: 2013 Edition

This is the first annual sequel to the original edition of the Intergenerational Unfairness Index, IF’s pioneering attempt to measure intergenerational unfairness in the UK. Building on the measures established by the 2012 Edition, this piece of research found that the prospects of young people appear to be worsening across a range of key areas,… Read more »

No Entry! Transport barriers facing young people

Young people in Britain are being unfairly disadvantaged by cuts to public transport services, according to this study which was undertaken on IF’s behalf by Richard Bourn of the Campaign for Better Transport. This report particularly looked at the relationship between changes in public transport policy and the declining employment prospects of large numbers of… Read more »