Optimal tax rules are used to evaluate the optimality of taxation for lone mothers in Germany and Britain. The theoretical model is combined with elasticities derived from the structural estimation of lone mothers' labour supply. For both countries we do not find that in-work credits with...

Child poverty in Britain fell in Labour's first term, though by much less than micro-simulation exercises suggested. Nonetheless, the decline is statistically significant, and is greater if measured just in the last 6 months of 2000/1, rather than the whole year. The decline also proves robust...

This article develops a simple model of household decisions that explicitly accounts for the role played by the Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) to examine its effects on couples in Britain. The main implications of the model are tested using panel data from the British Household Panel Survey...

In Britain, about 7% of male employees and 10% of female employees are in temporary jobs. This proportion has been relatively stable over the 1990s. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, we confirm the popular perception that temporary jobs are generally not desirable when compared...

We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey to estimate the extent of intergenerational economic mobility in a framework that highlights the role played by assortative mating. We find that assortative mating plays an important role. On average about...

The exact measurement of the welfare costs of tax and price reform requires a detailed knowledge of individual preferences. Typically, first-order approximations of welfare costs are calculated avoiding detailed knowledge of substitution effects. The authors derive second-order approximations...

This paper studies the paths from inequality in earnings to inequality in household consumption. We show that careful study of the evolution of the variances and covariances of earnings and consumption within cohorts across time can identify permanent and transitory shocks. We present an...

This survey is designed to emphasize the relationship between empirical a nd theoretical considerations in the analysis of consumer behavior. A lthough it focuses primarily on analysis at the individual or micro l evel, it tries, where possible, to draw implications for the estimati on of...