Poverty, inequality and social mobility
The Class Ceiling
Why it Pays to be Privileged
This important book takes readers behind the closed doors of elite employers to reveal how class affects who gets to the top. Drawing on 200 interviews across four case studies - television, accountancy, architecture, and acting – it explores the complex barriers facing the upwardly mobile.
Building better credit unions
In the UK there is increasing acceptance that credit unions have an important role to play in providing affordable credit to all sections of society. This study identifies current patterns of credit union development, quantifies their performance and isolates factors which make some more successful than others. Free PDF available at www.jrf.org.uk
The poverty trade-off
Work incentives and income redistribution in Britain
Two strategies that governments have to help people on low incomes - providing them with financial support directly, and encouraging them to earn more - generally conflict. This report provides new evidence on the trade-off between redistributing income and improving work incentives.
FREE PDF version available online at www.jrf.org.uk
Child poverty in the developing world
This report provides a summary of the results from a major international research project, funded by UNICEF, on child rights and child poverty in the developing world.
Poor transitions
Social exclusion and young adults
This is a study of the longer-term transitions of young people living in neighbourhoods beset by the worst problems of social exclusion. Based on a rare example of longitudinal, qualitative research with 'hard-to-reach' young adults, the study throws into question common approaches to tackling social exclusion. Free PDF available at www.jrf.org.uk
Economic segregation in England
Causes, consequences and policy
One of the key objectives of government neighbourhood policy is to encourage a sustainable mix of tenures and incomes. This report addresses questions of why integration has been so difficult to achieve in practice and draws conclusions for future policy.
FREE pdf version available online at www.jrf.org.uk
The persistence of poverty across generations
A view from two British cohorts
The recent focus on reducing child poverty stems mainly from worries about the future consequences of poverty on children's later achievement. This report explores the link between childhood poverty and poverty later in life, and asks whether this link has grown stronger or weaker in recent decades. Free PDF available at www.jrf.org.uk
Household spending in Britain
What can it teach us about poverty?
Much of the recent policy debate surrounding poverty in Britain focuses on income as a measure of living standards. In this report we consider one alternative to income for measuring poverty that has been largely overlooked in the mainstream poverty debate in the UK: namely household expenditure. Free PDF version available at www.jrf.org.uk
Why We Need Welfare
Collective Action for the Common Good
Explains the challenges that collective welfare faces, and explores the complexities involved in delivering it, including debates about who benefits from welfare and how and where it is delivered.
Making Sense of Brexit
Democracy, Europe and Uncertain Futures
What can we learn about our society and the need to listen to each other in order to make sense of Brexit within a wider world? This accessible book addresses the causes and implications of Brexit, exploring the anger against political elites as people felt estranged from a political process that no longer expressed their will.
Hunger Pains
Life inside Foodbank Britain
We know the statistics, but what does it feel like to be forced to turn to foodbanks for help? What does it take to get emergency food, and what's in the food parcel? This is a powerful insight into the harsh reality of foodbank use from the inside.
Good Times, Bad Times
The Welfare Myth of Them and Us
This revised edition uses extensive updated research and survey evidence to challenge the view of 'skivers versus strivers', showing how much our lives vary not just as we age, but from week-to-week and year-to-year.