This paper examines the impact of the UK housing benefit system on the financial returns to employment of people in local authority or Housing Association accommodation. It outlines the current structure of housing benefit and examines its effects on the returns to employment using data from the...

The basic state retirement pension is payable irrespective of means but it is a contributory benefit, not a universal benefit. Individuals who do not have enough National Insurance contributions when they reach state pension age are not entitled to a full state pension. They may receive a...

This paper examines the asset positions of households at and around retirement in Britain using the Retirement Survey ‘waves’ of 1988-89 and 1994. The data provide the first panel evidence on retirement behaviour and asset evolution for a sample of older households in Britain. The analysis...

One-and-a-half million pensioners are dependent on the minimum means-tested benefit, income support. But the numbers on income support have barely changed in two decades despite substantial increases in its value and that of its precursor, supplementary benefit. At least another 2 million...

We show that older male pensioners have substantially lower incomes than younger pensioners. There are a number of possible reasons for this including under-indexation of private pensions and the running down of income-producing assets. In fact we find that cohort differences more than account...

We consider a computational equilibrium model of spatially differentiated Bertrand competition and apply it to merger analysis. Two pricing paradigms are studied: one where firms cannot price discriminate among customers and one where firms can. The model encompasses many details that make it...

Understanding the balance sheets of today’s young adults—particularly the factors that set them on a path to financial security through asset diversification and accumulation—lends some insight into the balance sheets they will have when they are older. This study uses panel data from the...