Oxford Econ Policy

Delivering the UK welfare state Abstract. A range of welfare services are delivered to citizens on behalf of the state, both directly by public servants, and by private actors from the fo

Eleanor Carter and Michael Gibson explore the evolving roles of the state, issues arising from outsourced delivery, emerging collaborative models, and the increasing role of citizens in welfare provision. #Welfare #PublicPolicy
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Affording the NHS: estimating demand pressures and the options for addressing the challenge of fiscal sustainability Abstract. Rising health spending is increasingly becoming a key concern for policy-makers across many high-income countries due to ageing populations and i

Rising health spending threatens fiscal sustainability in England. Anita Charlesworth and Ann Raymond suggest that long-term funding must rely on higher taxes or private spending due to limited scope for public service cuts. #NHS #FiscalPolicy
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Future challenges for health and social care provision in the UK Abstract. The supply of health and social (long-term) care services in the UK will need to substantially increase in coming decades to meet growing demand

The UK must significantly expand health and social care supply to meet rising demand. @maxwarner.bsky.social and @benzaranko.bsky.social explore how to boost inputs and productivity amid policy and fiscal constraints. #HealthPolicy #SocialCare
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Reserved for the poor? Social housing in a liberal market economy Abstract. Since 1980, social housing has undergone a fundamental transformation in England. In the 1970s, three out of ten households, the majority of whom

Council housing, once common and broadly accessible, now serves mainly low-income households and sees minimal new builds. Peter A. Kemp finds that social housing covers only 1 in 6 households today. #HousingPolicy #uk
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The future of public pension provision in the UK: challenges and trade-offs Abstract. The UK state pension system faces significant challenges given the country’s ageing population, but at the same time it is crucial for retirement

UK pensions face challenges from an ageing population. Jonathan Cribb, Carl Emmerson and Heidi Karjalainen argue that this implies raising pension age—hitting poorer groups hardest—or limiting ‘triple lock’ indexation, impacting higher earners more. #Pensions
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Programme interactions and fiscal drag in the UK tax-and-benefit system: effects on income inequality Abstract. This paper provides a comprehensive quantitative analysis of the UK tax-and-benefit system in 2023, focusing on its impact on income inequality.

In 2023, the UK tax-benefit system reduced income inequality by 27.6%, trailing France. Victoria Prowse shows that fiscal drag disproportionately affects low earners, while advocating for higher Universal Credit to limit inequality. #TaxPolicy #Inequality
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Fiscal redistribution cycles: four decades of social assistance in the UK Abstract. This paper describes the evolution of fiscal redistribution (FR) in the UK through social assistance transfers over the last four decades and the

David Coady traces 40 years of UK fiscal redistribution. Labour’s 1997–2010 expansion boosted budget effort but cut progressivity; post-2010 austerity reversed this. Notably, redistribution to the poorest declined throughout. #Welfare #UKPolicy
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Sustained productivity growth underpins a successful welfare state but the UK has faced years of stagnant real wages and weak productivity. Stephen Machin explores policies to revive sustained wage growth. #Growth #UK
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The Nordic welfare model is lauded for balancing high income and equality in open economies with large public sectors. Torben M. Andersen and Michael Svarer review its features, resilience, and policies, while exploring future challenges. #Welfare #Nordics
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Immigration and the welfare state Abstract. As immigration continues to be politically salient in North America and Europe, questions about the compatibility of modern welfare states with i

Generous welfare systems don’t uniformly attract migrants. @mfreino.bsky.social, @isabel-ruiz.bsky.social and @williamlallen.bsky.social show that skilled immigrants tend to contribute, while humanitarian migrants may incur short-term costs. #Migration #Policy
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Local education and social care in England, Scotland, and Wales: spending patterns, priorities, and prospects Abstract. This paper explores the changing nature of the local welfare state in England, Scotland, and Wales. The potential impact of policy changes within

Rhys Andrews examines divergence in local welfare expenditure across the devolved UK. While academy school expansion in England reduced local education spending, Scotland’s free social care policy increased adult social care expenditure. #LocalWelfareUK
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The recent history and future prospects of the UK welfare state Abstract. This article examines how the UK welfare state was significantly retrenched, reshaped, and selectively expanded in the era of austerity and Covid

@iprnickp.bsky.social and @gavin-kelly.bsky.social analyse how the UK welfare state was reshaped by austerity and Covid, showing that despite fundamental changes, most reforms aligned with the UK's liberal model. They also explore future policy options. #UKWelfare
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The British welfare state faces challenges in service delivery and funding. Christopher Adam and @iremguceri.bsky.social discuss ageing populations, precarious work, and housing shortages, and explore how Labour can make welfare fit for the future. #FutureWelfareUK

Lawrence Goldman traces the British welfare state’s evolution through the 1830s, 1900s, and 1940s, arguing that issues from the Poor Law era still resonate. Similarly, Beveridge and Bevan's visions underpin welfare provision even today. #Welfare

Oxford Review of Economic Policy | Oxford Academic Publishes original contributions in economic policy, with a balance between macro- and microeconomics. Provides a valuable appraisal of economic policies worldwide with each issue focused on a topic o...

The OxREP's newest issue on "The Future of the Welfare State In the UK" has been published! Read all articles online here:
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Recommender systems are both a beneficial tool and source of market distortion. In the OxREP, @EmilioC_, Giacomo Calzolari, Vincenzo Denicolò, and Sergio Pastorello argue that the benefits of RS need to be balanced against their economic implications. academic.oup.com/oxrep/articl...

How does competition policy need to change in a world of artificial intelligence? Abstract. This paper investigates how the advent of artificial intelligence is likely to change competition policy. As economists we tend to view artificia

Are the traditional tools and frameworks of competition policy robust to artificial intelligence? In the OxREP, Catherine Tucker discusses how competition policymakers can identify bad intent by firm when confronted with algorithm-based decision-making. academic.oup.com/oxrep/articl...

Competition policy for conglomerates, platforms, and eco-systems Abstract. We discuss the economics of eco-systems, distinct from other industrial structures but currently without an agreed definition. Our aim is to clar

Clarifying the discussion around eco-systems in competition policy, Pierre Régibeau and Katharine E. Rockett identify key theories of harm. Read the latest OxREP to find out more about “defensive foreclosure” and the Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta cases.
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Implications of behavioural economics for the pro-competitive regulation of digital platforms Abstract:. In recent years, the relevance of behavioural economics to competition policy has become ever more apparent, especially in digital markets. Choi

Insights from behavioural economics have been key to improving regulation of markets dominated by tech companies. Amelia Fletcher and Zita Vasas emphasise the importance of choice architecture in competition law cases in their contribution to the OxREP. academic.oup.com/oxrep/articl...

Competition policy and labour market power: new evidence and open questions Abstract. Emerging evidence on pervasive and rising market power in US labour markets has led some competition agencies to wonder if the prevailing focus o

Although firms' labour market power in the UK has not risen substantially, it has significant economic costs to some. In their OxREP article, Joel Kariel, Jakob Schneebacher and Mike Walker discuss the implications of these findings for competition agencies’ tools.
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Abuse of dominance: has the effects-based analysis gone too far? Abstract. In 2008, following a long period of a so-called ‘formalistic’ approach to competition law, the European Commission adopted a more economic, effec

Damien Geradin and Stijn Huijts investigate in the latest OxREP whether the European Commission’s effects-based approach to abuses of dominant position has gone too far. Considering the DMA, they also assess how it could improve its enforcement mechanisms.
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Towards an effective merger review policy: a defence of rebuttable structural presumptions Abstract. We discuss the design of an effective merger review policy for the twenty-first century. We argue that the practice of the past decades is inadeq

The competition policy of past decades is inadequate, argue @lancierifilippo.bsky.social and Tom Valletti in the latest OxREP. They emphasise the importance of rebuttal structural presumptions in making merger review policy fit for the 21st century.
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The evolution of ‘theories of harm’ in EU merger control Abstract. We discuss the main theories of harm in EU merger control and their evolution since the 1990s. We present stylized facts and trends using data ex

Theories of harm in EU merger control have evolved rapidly. Using data extracted from merger decisions, Tomaso Duso, Lea Bernhardt and Joanna Piechucka analyse how the introduction of the new EU Merger Regulation in 2004 has impacted merger assessment.
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Everything Everywhere All At Once: competition policy and industrial policy choices in an era of structural change Abstract:. There is a clear revival of active industrial policy in many OECD economies. There is also a renewed activism in competition policy, with broad

In the latest OxREP issue, @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social alerts us to institutional challenges amidst activism in industrial and competition policy: How to combine expertise with political legitimacy; and how to coordinate policymaking across different bodies. academic.oup.com/oxrep/articl...

The ‘crisis’ of antitrust economics Abstract. The extant antitrust frameworks in the EU, UK, and US are being challenged conceptually, ideologically, and empirically. In particular, they are

Does a “more-economics approach” to competition law lead to under-enforcement? Finding mixed evidence, Jorge Padilla suggests in his OxREP article that only greater scrutiny of different types of evidence can correct excessively lenient enforcement.
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Philosophies of competition policy Abstract. At a high level of abstraction, different approaches to competition policy are philosophies that differ as to the proper intensity, scope, and fo

In the latest OxREP, Gregory J. Werden describes, compares and traces the history of philosophies on competition policy. Different approaches vary widely as to their intensity, scope and focus of enforcement – and directly impact decisions made by courts.
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New directions in competition policy: an overview Abstract. Competition policy has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years, with tension between traditional antitrust frameworks and contemporary critique

Has competition policy kept pace with the market power of (tech) firms? How should it respond to temporary critiques like the “hipster antitrust movement”? In their introduction, Simon Cowan, Peter Ormosi and Joe Perkins address the future of competition economics.
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Volume 40 Issue 4 | Oxford Review of Economic Policy | Oxford Academic Publishes original contributions in economic policy, with a balance between macro- and microeconomics. Provides a valuable appraisal of economic policies worldwide with each issue focused on a topic o...

The OxREP's newest issue on "New Directions in Competition Policy" has been published!
Read all articles online here:
academic.oup.com/oxrep/issue/...