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All Episodes

IFS Zooms In: The Economy — 186 episodes

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Title
1

Inequality: what does Britain really think?

2

How unequal is Britain?

3

The tough fiscal reality facing the UK government

4

Why is UK electricity so expensive?

5

What do councils actually do?

6

The tough choices facing Wales’s next government

7

Why Scotland’s next government faces tough choices

8

Will everyone have to work until they are 67?

9

Are pensioners richer than everyone else?

10

The Spring Forecast explained

11

How to fix the fiscal rules

12

Are Plan 2 student loans 'unfair'?

13

Did inflation cause the cost of living crisis?

14

Does the minimum wage cost jobs?

15

Why isn’t the NHS improving faster?

16

What really matters for the UK economy in 2026

17

Tax changes in the Budget

18

The Autumn Budget explained

19

How could the Chancellor cut spending?

20

Is the UK in hock to the bond market?

21

How could the Chancellor raise more tax?

22

How to fix VAT

23

How to fix property taxes

24

How to fix wealth taxes

25

How to fix income tax

26

The Budget Dilemma: Tax Rises or Spending Cuts?

27

Should Labour scrap the two-child limit?

28

Should the middle class get benefits?

29

Why is defence spending rising?

30

Children and young people: your questions answered | Are the kids OK? #5

31

What’s happening to families in the UK? | Are the kids OK? #4

32

Is further education treated as second class? | Are the kids OK? #3

33

Are England's schools working? | Are the kids OK? #2

34

Are Britain’s youngest children getting the best start? | Are the kids OK? #1

35

What are the big threats to public finances?

36

One year of Labour government: Is mission-driven politics really happening?

37

Paul Johnson’s final episode: big challenges ahead for the UK economy

38

How to fix UK pensions?

39

The policy that changed childhood in the UK

40

What’s gone wrong in the Crown Courts?

41

Spending Review 2025: What it means and why it matters

42

Trade Wars: The end of globalisation?

43

Why is the government reforming health-related benefits?

44

What's the future of corporation tax?

45

Spring Statement 2025

46

The Schools Bill

47

Family values: inheritance, inequality and social mobility

48

How important is the OBR forecast?

49

Do tariffs work?

50

How is tax damaging the housing market?

51

Why did the French budget fail to pass?

52

How can we make government more productive?

53

Inheritance tax rises and the Budget: who's affected?

54

How big are the UK's demographic challenges?

55

What does the Budget mean for the UK?

56

LIVE: How can Rachel Reeves make her first Budget a success?

57

What options does Rachel Reeves have for the Budget?

58

Should the Chancellor raise capital gains tax?

59

How can government reduce child poverty?

60

Are people saving enough into their pensions?

61

The big challenges facing the benefits system

62

The Chancellor's options for raising taxes

63

Why are universities in financial trouble?

64

Can the new government fix the NHS?

65

Is Labour's inheritance really worse than expected?

66

What is Labour's economic strategy?

67

ELECTION SPECIAL: Your questions answered

68

ELECTION SPECIAL: The big issues politicians haven't spoken about

69

ELECTION SPECIAL: Has 'levelling up' worked?

70

ELECTION SPECIAL: The Reform UK and Green Party manifestos explained

71

ELECTION SPECIAL: The Labour manifesto explained

72

ELECTION SPECIAL: The Conservative manifesto explained

73

ELECTION SPECIAL: The government's record on tax

74

ELECTION SPECIAL: The 'conspiracy of silence' on the economy

75

ELECTION SPECIAL: The UK economy since 2008

76

ELECTION SPECIAL: What you need to know

77

How to grow the economy

78

The £600 billion problem awaiting the next government

79

Should we worry about government debt?

80

Spring Budget 2024: What you need to know

81

The NHS waiting list: when will it come down?

82

Are councils in crisis?

83

How to fix our irrational income tax system

84

The economic stories that will shape 2024

85

The future of the state pension

86

Why we need to reform inheritance tax

87

The Autumn Statement explained

88

Cake or biscuit? The UK's byzantine VAT system explained

89

The Expert Factor: What next for Net Zero?

90

The Expert Factor: What can be done to fix standards in public life?

91

The Expert Factor: Why is the UK so bad at infrastructure?

92

The Expert Factor: Is there any money left?

93

The economic picture facing the Chancellor

94

An honest conversation about net zero

95

The Expert Factor: What is Britain’s place in the world?

96

The Expert Factor: What is the Point of Party Conferences?

97

The materials that shape our economy

98

Big firm, little firm: are differences between companies driving inequality and holding back growth?

99

Still a man’s world? Gender inequalities, parenthood and the workplace

100

Levelling Up: Is inequality between places Britain’s biggest problem?

101

When and why should we care about inequality?

102

COMING SOON: IFS Zooms In: Inequality

103

HIGHLIGHT: The future of public sector pensions

104

The economics of immigration

105

Work from home: what does the future look like?

106

What's wrong with inflation?

107

Why politicians need to think long-term about pensions

108

The stealth tax rise

109

The Spring Budget Explained

110

Are high energy prices here to stay?

111

How to tax the rich?

112

The state of the NHS

113

Pandemics, recessions and mental health: young people and jobs in 2023

114

Strikes, Budgets, Brexit and elections: a look ahead to 2023

115

Are we in a new era of austerity?

116

What we owe each other: a new social contract

117

Why are older workers leaving the workforce?

118

The challenges facing the Chancellor

119

Benefits, inflation and redistribution

120

Will public sector workers get a pay rise?

121

The challenges facing the new Prime Minister

122

The future of public sector pensions

123

How can we fix the childcare system?

124

HIGHLIGHT: The productivity problem

125

How should the government tax electric cars?

126

The future of student loans

127

HIGHLIGHT: How should the government influence what we eat?

128

How should we tax multinational corporations?

129

Spring Statement: inflation, living standards and uncertainty

130

Is the UK spending enough on defence?

131

Everything you need to know about National Insurance

132

Should people be saving more for retirement?

133

What should the government do about rising energy prices?

134

What you should be paying attention to in 2022

135

Has globalisation deepened inequality?

136

The common good after Covid

137

Can carbon taxes get us to net zero?

138

How should the government influence what we eat?

139

SPECIAL: What should the Chancellor consider in his autumn budget?

140

Job vacancies, labour shortages and a 'high-wage economy'

141

How to fix the education system

142

Social care: what happens now?

143

HIGHLIGHT: When and how to raise taxes?

144

HIGHLIGHT: The state of social mobility

145

HIGHLIGHT: Investment, infrastructure and levelling up

146

How to reform - and fund - social care?

147

Behind the scenes at HM Treasury

148

Location, location, location: how to reform council tax?

149

Can the NHS recover from COVID?

150

Are too many people going to university?

151

Has COVID transformed the labour market?

152

Are business rates killing the high street?

153

HIGHLIGHT: Geographical inequalities in the UK

154

The productivity problem

155

Universal Credit: The future of benefits?

156

Budget 2021: The road to recovery?

157

Catching up on lost learning

158

The economics of net zero

159

The state of inequality with Sir Angus Deaton

160

SPECIAL: Making sense of 2020

161

What's going on with Brexit?

162

Prices in a crisis

163

What’s happened to benefits through the pandemic?

164

What's happening with government debt?

165

Counting the cost of COVID-19

166

How is coronavirus affecting older workers?

167

University Challenge: COVID-19 and higher education

168

Moving on up: the state of social mobility

169

Taxing times ahead? When and how to raise taxes

170

Childcare during the pandemic

171

What to expect when schools reopen?

172

A Level playing field? Exam results during the pandemic

173

The potential consequences of Brexit

174

Catching up or falling behind? Geographical inequalities in the UK

175

Keeping it in the family: inheritances and inequality

176

Have the Chancellor's policies been stimulating enough?

177

Investment, infrastructure and levelling up

178

Incomes before, during and after the pandemic

179

The long shadow of Covid-19 on the economy and the public finances

180

COVID-19: Are people in some parts of England more 'vulnerable' than others?

181

The challenges facing further and higher education

182

The long-run effects on health and healthcare

183

Who's looking after the kids?

184

Getting people back into work

185

The unequal effects of the pandemic

186

Is the government doing enough to support workers during the pandemic?