How do we define poverty? Who is poor? Why? What should be done?
Ending poverty is a global priority. Sustainable Development Goal 1 calls for an end to poverty in all its forms everywhere. Over the past decade, the number of people living in extreme poverty has been reduced considerably, but it remains one of the world’s greatest challenges. What’s more, there is no consensus on what should be done.
As part of our commitment to informing robust, scholarly and policy-relevant debate, Policy Forum has launched this special section: Poverty In Focus. We hope you find the contents both illuminating and thought-provoking, and invite you to join the conversation.
Professor Sharon Bessell
Editor, Poverty In Focus section
Evidence has shown for a long time that the best way out of poverty is to increase incomes and access to resources. So why hasn’t policy responded? Gill Main writes about a ground-breaking study from the UK that aims to help policymakers hear the real story.
6 minute read
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Vietnam is facing a number of environmental pitfalls and policy hurdles on its path towards a sustainable energy sector, Frauke Urban, Giuseppina Siciliano, Linda Wallbott, Markus Lederer and Anh Nguyen Dang write.
5 minute read
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Government and governance | Australia
Australia will only reduce its national suicide toll if policymakers are held to account on poverty, education, bullying, and Indigenous disadvantage, Gerry Georgatos writes.
7 minute read
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If we can’t get our poverty measurements right, then we have no chance of getting our policy responses right either, Sharon Bessell writes.
6 minute read
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If the world is to have any chance of eradicating poverty by 2030, it has to understand it first. This week on Policy Forum Pod, we hear from two leading figures working on the front line of measuring and addressing the problem.
Economics and finance | The World
On this week’s Policy Forum Pod, we hear from Olli Kangas, the lead designer of Finland’s Universal Basic Income experiment, about the future of social welfare and why the Finnish trial will be discontinued.
46 minute listen
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Government and governance | Australia
One in six children under the age of 15 live below the poverty line in Australia. Society can choose to do something about it, Kristy Muir writes.
7 minute read
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Government and governance | Australia
To mark Anti-Poverty Week we asked experts to suggest policy ideas that could help tackle poverty in Australia. Cameron Parsell writes that the answers are obvious, and the problem is the failure to act on them.
3 minute read
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On the new Policy Forum Pod, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund Dr Babatunde Osotimehin discusses family planning, sustainable development, and why there’s still a very long way to go when it comes to gender equality.
32 minutes
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Economics and finance | Australia
The idea of a basic income is attracting interest in countries all around the world. But is it affordable, and what would it mean for the welfare state?
55 minute listen
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