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All Episodes

IFS Zooms In: The Economy — 195 episodes

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Title
1

How does immigration affect the public finances?

2

Land value tax: the perfect tax?

3

Are business rates 'killing the high street'?

4

Who really benefits from university?

5

Are people saving enough for retirement?

6

The tax and spending choices facing Andy Burnham

7

Will devolution solve the UK’s economic woes?

8

The inequality of 'good jobs'

9

Why is the UK so geographically unequal?

10

What does Britain think about inequality?

11

How unequal is Britain?

12

The tough fiscal reality facing the UK government

13

Why is UK electricity so expensive?

14

What do councils actually do?

15

The tough choices facing Wales’s next government

16

Why Scotland’s next government faces tough choices

17

Will everyone have to work until they are 67?

18

Are pensioners richer than everyone else?

19

The Spring Forecast explained

20

How to fix the fiscal rules

21

Are Plan 2 student loans 'unfair'?

22

Did inflation cause the cost of living crisis?

23

Does the minimum wage cost jobs?

24

Why isn’t the NHS improving faster?

25

What really matters for the UK economy in 2026

26

Tax changes in the Budget

27

The Autumn Budget explained

28

How could the Chancellor cut spending?

29

Is the UK in hock to the bond market?

30

How could the Chancellor raise more tax?

31

How to fix VAT

32

How to fix property taxes

33

How to fix wealth taxes

34

How to fix income tax

35

The Budget Dilemma: Tax Rises or Spending Cuts?

36

Should Labour scrap the two-child limit?

37

Should the middle class get benefits?

38

Why is defence spending rising?

39

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

40

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

41

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

42

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

43

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

44

What are the big threats to public finances?

45

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

46

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

47

How to fix UK pensions?

48

The policy that changed childhood in the UK

49

What’s gone wrong in the Crown Courts?

50

Spending Review 2025: What it means and why it matters

51

Trade Wars: The end of globalisation?

52

Why is the government reforming health-related benefits?

53

What's the future of corporation tax?

54

Spring Statement 2025

55

The Schools Bill

56

Family values: inheritance, inequality and social mobility

57

How important is the OBR forecast?

58

Do tariffs work?

59

How is tax damaging the housing market?

60

Why did the French budget fail to pass?

61

How can we make government more productive?

62

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

63

How big are the UK's demographic challenges?

64

What does the Budget mean for the UK?

65

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

66

What options does Rachel Reeves have for the Budget?

67

Should the Chancellor raise capital gains tax?

68

How can government reduce child poverty?

69

Are people saving enough into their pensions?

70

The big challenges facing the benefits system

71

The Chancellor's options for raising taxes

72

Why are universities in financial trouble?

73

Can the new government fix the NHS?

74

Is Labour's inheritance really worse than expected?

75

What is Labour's economic strategy?

76

ELECTION SPECIAL: Your questions answered

77

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

78

ELECTION SPECIAL: Has 'levelling up' worked?

79

ELECTION SPECIAL: The Reform UK and Green Party manifestos explained

80

ELECTION SPECIAL: The Labour manifesto explained

81

ELECTION SPECIAL: The Conservative manifesto explained

82

ELECTION SPECIAL: The government's record on tax

83

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

84

ELECTION SPECIAL: The UK economy since 2008

85

ELECTION SPECIAL: What you need to know

86

How to grow the economy

87

The £600 billion problem awaiting the next government

88

Should we worry about government debt?

89

Spring Budget 2024: What you need to know

90

The NHS waiting list: when will it come down?

91

Are councils in crisis?

92

How to fix our irrational income tax system

93

The economic stories that will shape 2024

94

The future of the state pension

95

Why we need to reform inheritance tax

96

The Autumn Statement explained

97

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

98

The Expert Factor: What next for Net Zero?

99

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

100

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

101

The Expert Factor: Is there any money left?

102

The economic picture facing the Chancellor

103

An honest conversation about net zero

104

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

105

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

106

The materials that shape our economy

107

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

108

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

109

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

110

When and why should we care about inequality?

111

COMING SOON: IFS Zooms In: Inequality

112

HIGHLIGHT: The future of public sector pensions

113

The economics of immigration

114

Work from home: what does the future look like?

115

What's wrong with inflation?

116

Why politicians need to think long-term about pensions

117

The stealth tax rise

118

The Spring Budget Explained

119

Are high energy prices here to stay?

120

How to tax the rich?

121

The state of the NHS

122

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

123

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

124

Are we in a new era of austerity?

125

What we owe each other: a new social contract

126

Why are older workers leaving the workforce?

127

The challenges facing the Chancellor

128

Benefits, inflation and redistribution

129

Will public sector workers get a pay rise?

130

The challenges facing the new Prime Minister

131

The future of public sector pensions

132

How can we fix the childcare system?

133

HIGHLIGHT: The productivity problem

134

How should the government tax electric cars?

135

The future of student loans

136

HIGHLIGHT: How should the government influence what we eat?

137

How should we tax multinational corporations?

138

Spring Statement: inflation, living standards and uncertainty

139

Is the UK spending enough on defence?

140

Everything you need to know about National Insurance

141

Should people be saving more for retirement?

142

What should the government do about rising energy prices?

143

What you should be paying attention to in 2022

144

Has globalisation deepened inequality?

145

The common good after Covid

146

Can carbon taxes get us to net zero?

147

How should the government influence what we eat?

148

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

149

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

150

How to fix the education system

151

Social care: what happens now?

152

HIGHLIGHT: When and how to raise taxes?

153

HIGHLIGHT: The state of social mobility

154

HIGHLIGHT: Investment, infrastructure and levelling up

155

How to reform - and fund - social care?

156

Behind the scenes at HM Treasury

157

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

158

Can the NHS recover from COVID?

159

Are too many people going to university?

160

Has COVID transformed the labour market?

161

Are business rates killing the high street?

162

HIGHLIGHT: Geographical inequalities in the UK

163

The productivity problem

164

Universal Credit: The future of benefits?

165

Budget 2021: The road to recovery?

166

Catching up on lost learning

167

The economics of net zero

168

The state of inequality with Sir Angus Deaton

169

SPECIAL: Making sense of 2020

170

What's going on with Brexit?

171

Prices in a crisis

172

What’s happened to benefits through the pandemic?

173

What's happening with government debt?

174

Counting the cost of COVID-19

175

How is coronavirus affecting older workers?

176

University Challenge: COVID-19 and higher education

177

Moving on up: the state of social mobility

178

Taxing times ahead? When and how to raise taxes

179

Childcare during the pandemic

180

What to expect when schools reopen?

181

A Level playing field? Exam results during the pandemic

182

The potential consequences of Brexit

183

Catching up or falling behind? Geographical inequalities in the UK

184

Keeping it in the family: inheritances and inequality

185

Have the Chancellor's policies been stimulating enough?

186

Investment, infrastructure and levelling up

187

Incomes before, during and after the pandemic

188

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

189

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

190

The challenges facing further and higher education

191

The long-run effects on health and healthcare

192

Who's looking after the kids?

193

Getting people back into work

194

The unequal effects of the pandemic

195

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