This paper summarises some of the key findings and policy recommendations of the latest OECD report on income inequality - "In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All". In particular, the paper presents new findings regarding the trade-off between inequality and growth, as well as with...

The Brazilian government raises taxes amounting to 35% of GDP and spends more than two thirds of this on social programmes. These shares are in pair with the OECD averages and well in excess of Latin America averages. However, while tax-benefit systems in most OECD countries reduce income...

Inflation indices – such as the national Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and the EU Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) – measure price changes for the overall economy, which may not reflect the inflation experience of an individual household or group of households. This paper...

We compare the distributional effects of austerity measures that have been introduced in 6 EU countries in the period of large government budget deficits following the 2007-8 financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn. We explore the effects of policy changes presented as "austerity...

The EU's Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), launched in 2003, was the first micro-level data set to provide comprehensive data on incomes and other social and economic domains over the enlarged EU. This paper draws on two programmes of research to ask how well the EU-SILC has...