What Should We Really Mean by "Living Standards"?

Governments, the media, and many of us seem very focussed on just one measure of how well off we are – post direct tax incomes.  Changes in the distribution of post tax incomes are really important, but they are only a part of the whole, and thinking clearly about the effects of public spending and of indirect taxes is also essential if we are to make sense of public policy and the role of government.

About the speaker

Andrew Dilnot is the Non-Executive chair of Oxford University Press. He was the Chair of the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support, which reported in 2011. He was Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1991 to 2002, Principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, from 2002 to 2012, Warden of Nuffield College from 2012 to 2024, and chair of the UK Statistics Authority from 2012 to 2017. He was the founding presenter of BBC Radio 4’s series on the beauty of numbers, "More or Less".

About the lecture series

The Peter Sinclair Town Hall lecture series features world class economists presenting their research and its real world implications to an audience of academic economists, economics students, and the wider community. The lectures are diverse in topic but united in that they bring the lens of economics to real world issues, demonstrating how economics can be both useful and a force for good in understanding and shaping the world.

The lecture series is inspired by and commemorates Emeritus Professor Peter Sinclair, whose breadth of knowledge, curiosity, and kindness inspired his students and colleagues immeasurably.