The IFS Green Budget suggests that, even relative to major planned cuts, Whitehall departments will underspend by more than £3 billion this year. The IFS Green Budget 2012 was generously funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and was produced in collaboration with Oxford Economics.

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How can policymakers raise household saving?

Concern that too little saving is done by a significant number of UK households has long been a motivation for government policy. However, any intervention by policy makers designed to increase household saving rates should ideally be based on high quality evidence on the efficacy of different policies. A new British Academy policy centre report authored by IFS researchers examines the evidence for different types of policy to promote household savings: financial incentives, education, 'nudges' and social marketing. Despite the obvious importance attached to the issue in the UK and internationally, the report concludes that significant gaps in the evidence base remain.

Observations archive

February 2012

November 2011