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Author Archives: David Bell
Funding Social Care: Challenges for the Scottish Government
The Conservative manifesto, published yesterday, proposes several changes to the social care and benefit systems for older people in England. These are: an increase from £23,250 to £100,000 in the capital that social care clients can retain. Once their capital … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Area-based policies and devolved government
This blog links to a paper, “Area-based policies and devolved governments”which discusses possible post-Brexit futures for policies that, under current EU rules, are linked to specific locations within the UK and are largely administered by the devolved governments.
Posted in Uncategorized
More on the Bookies Odds of BREXIT
My estimates of the implied probability of a “leave” outcome in the EU referendum using the bookies odds from Oddschecker.com have attracted much comment. Some critics seem to have a weak understanding of the nature of prediction markets. For example, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Who will be affected by Scotland’s new welfare powers?
As a result of the Scotland Act 2016, the Scottish Government will take over a range of disability benefits and the regulated social fund. Together these benefits cost around £2.5 billion in 2013-14. Total spending on benefits, tax credits and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
The higher rate threshold: to increase or not to increase?
In last week’s budget, the Chancellor announced his intention to increase the personal allowance for income tax from £11,000 in 2016-17 to £11,500 in 2017-18. He also intends to increase the higher rate threshold from £43,000 in 2016-17 to £45,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Prospects for Growth in Scottish GDP
The latest GDP figures were released today. They show the Scottish economy grew by 0.1% in 2015 Q3. This is a fairly weak performance. The UK economy as a whole grew by 0.4% in the same quarter; it grew by … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Uncategorized
Scotland’s Labour Market Lags Behind the UK’s
It is relatively easy to slip into the belief that the Scottish labour market has performed as well as the rest of the UK since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008. Scotland’s unemployment rate, like that in the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Scotland’s Labour Market Lags Behind the UK’s
It is relatively easy to slip into the belief that the Scottish labour market has performed as well as the rest of the UK since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008. Scotland’s unemployment rate, like that in the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Keynote presentation at Understanding Society conference, University of Essex
David Bell gave one of keynote presentations at the Understanding Society biannual conference at the University of Essex. His title was “Scotland’s Changing Fiscal Framework through the Prism of Understanding Society”. Click here to access his slides.
Posted in Uncategorized
The LBTT Revision
On 18th January 2015, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney, announced that he is revising the residential tax element of the land and building transaction tax (LBTT). Mr Swinney had announced the rates for LBBT in his draft budget … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized