The economic and public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing inequalities between ethnic groups in England and Wales, as well as creating new ones. We draw on current mortality and case data, alongside pre-crisis labour force data, to investigate the relative vulnerability of different ethnic groups to adverse health and economic impacts. After accounting for differences in population structure and regional concentration, we show that most minority groups suffered excess mortality compared with the white British majority group. Differences in underlying health conditions such as diabetes may play a role; so too may occupational exposure to the virus, given the very different labour market profiles of ethnic groups. Distinctive patterns of occupational concentration also highlight the vulnerability of some groups to the economic consequences of social distancing measures, with Bangladeshi and Pakistani men particularly likely to be employed in occupations directly affected by the UK's 'lockdown'. We show that differences in household structures and inequalities in access to savings mean that a number of minority groups are also less able to *

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is reported to be more prevalent in ambulance clinicians than the general population. Given the high frequency of exposure to high stress and traumatic situations over the course of an ambulance clinician's career, the current study examined the prevalence of post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and the severity of distress related to these symptoms in this population. A total of 508 ambulance clinicians, including paramedics and technicians, completed the Life Events Checklist-Five and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised. Severity of distress associated with PTS symptoms was determined by using commonly used clinical cut-off scores. Nearly 50% of ambulance clinicians reported distress arising from symptoms of PTS of severity sufficient to be of clinical concern. Over 23% reported severe levels of distress. Results indicate concerning levels of distress relating to PTS within the ambulance service. Anchoring PTS to an index event and measuring duration of symptoms relative to that event is likely not accounting for the complex interaction of previous and further exposures on presentation. This may mask the extent of the impact of trauma exposure in populations with recurrent exposure to distressing situations.

The changes that British society and the economy have experienced since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic are some of the most unexpected and profound seen since World War II. This report seeks to set out the potential effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on inequalities in the UK. The pandemic has affected inequalities in education, training, wages, employment and health, including how these vary by gender, ethnicity, and across generations. It has also opened up new gaps along dimensions that were not previously widely considered, such as the ability to work at home.In this briefing note, we focus on two types of inequalities: first, inequalities in education and skills; second, inequalities in the labour market and household incomes. For each of these broad areas we highlight the challenges posed by inequalities between different groups and the opportunity for an integrated policy response. We examine inequalities in education and skills by gender, ethnicity, region and between people from different socio-economic backgrounds. In our analysis of inequality in labour markets and household incomes, we examine inequality across the income distribution, and again consider inequalities between the aforementioned groups.We find evidence that three particular inequalities are likely to have risen because of the crisis: income inequalities between richer and poorer households, socio-economic inequalities in education and skills, and intergenerational inequalities between older and younger people. The key drivers of these are the fall in employment resulting from the pandemic, which fall harder on younger and less well-educated people, and the massive decline in face-to-face learning that school children have faced. We discuss opportunities for an integrated policy response to these interrelated problems. Key findingsPrior to the Covid-19 pandemic, a range of economic inequalities had become more salient. Income inequality was higher than in most other developed countries. The 'gender pay gap' had stopped falling. There were large differences in the prosperity of different groups in society (such as between people of different ethnicities) and between different regions. Educational performance also varied significantly based on socioeconomic backgrounds and paths into good jobs were much less clear for those not going to university.The Covid-19 pandemic and the public health response to it have radically changed life in the UK. There are two particular trends that have been responsible for changes to inequalities in education, skills, and incomes. First, the shutting down of many sectors of the economy during in lockdowns and social distancing measures have led to stark changes in the labour market. Second, the lack of face-to-face teaching in Spring 2020 and again in early 2021 has massively disrupted the education of all children.

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As in high-income countries, reduced rates of vat and vat exemptions ("preferential vat rates") are a common feature of indirect tax systems in lmics. Many of the goods and services that are granted preferential ratessuch as foodstuffs and kerosene-seem likely to receive such treatment on the grounds that they provide a means for the government to indirectly target poorer households, for whom such expenditures may take up a large proportion of their total budget. We use microsimulation methods to estimate the impact of preferential vat rates in four lmic countries, considering their effect on revenues, poverty, inequality, and across the consumption distribution. We consider whether other policy tools might be better suited for the pursuit of distributional objectives by estimating the impact of existing cash transfer schemes and a hypothetical scenario where the revenue raised from broadening the vat base is used to fund a universal basic income (ubi) in each country. We find that although preferential vat rates reduce poverty, they are not well targeted towards poor households overall. Existing cash transfer schemes are better targeted but would not provide a suitable means of compensation for a broader vat base given issues related to coverage and targeting mechanisms. Despite being completely untargeted, a ubi funded by the revenue gains from a broader vat base would create large net gains for poor households and reduce inequality and most measures of extreme poverty in each of the countries studied-even if only 75% of the additional vat revenue was disbursed as ubi payments.

This paper investigates the effect of electronic payments technology on firms' tax compliance in a large developing economy. We consider India's demonetization policy which, by limiting the availability of cash, led to a large increase in the use of electronic forms of payments. Using administrative data on firms' tax returns and variation in the strength of the demonetization shock across local areas, we find that greater use of electronic payments leads to firms reporting more sales to the tax authorities. This effect is strong enough to explain roughly half of the large (11%) increase in reported sales observed during demonetization.JEL: H26, O23, H25.

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