Publications

This paper compares people’s attitudes to inequality at the end of the 1990s the qualities they perceive are needed to get ahead, the role of government and rewards for employment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Western countries. Data (from the 1999 International Social Survey Programme) suggest that overall, people in CEE express substantially more ‘egalitarian’ attitudes than those in the West, even after 10 years of economic adjustment to the market economy. The research produces important messages for policymakers, underlining the degree of support for public action concerning redistribution and warning them of the extent to which inequalities are felt in society, especially those that are perceived to be generated by ‘unfair’ means.

Progress towards the target of universal access to basic education by the year 2000, set by two global conferences in 1990, has been too slow in many countries. Most of the reasons for this inadequate progress are country-specific. However, in virtually all countries one explanation stands out: inadequate public finance for primary education. This paper updates the global and regional cost estimates for achieving 'education for all' by 2015 the new target date set by the Social Summit in 1995. The estimates are based on the most recent country-by-country data on budgetary expenditure, population and enrolment trends, and unit cost.

A child poverty rate of ten percent could mean that every tenth child is always poor, or that all children are in poverty for one month in every ten. Knowing where reality lies between these extremes is vital to understanding the problem facing many countries of poverty among the young. This unique study goes beyond the standard analysis of child poverty based on poverty rates at one point in time and documents how much movement into and out of poverty by children there actually is, covering a range of industrialised countries - the USA, UK, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Hungary and Russia. Five main topics are addressed: conceptual and measurement issues associated with a dynamic view of child poverty; cross-national comparisons of child poverty rates and trends; cross-national comparisons of children’s movements into and out of poverty; country-specific studies of child poverty dynamics; and the policy implications of taking a dynamic perspective.

The Labour Government elected in 1997 in Britain made the reduction of child poverty one of its central objectives. This paper describes the specific initiatives involved in Labour’s approach and weighs them up in terms of their potential impact. After setting out the extent of the problem of child poverty, the causes are discussed and Britain's problem is set in international perspective. The impact on child poverty of policies designed to raise incomes directly is analysed using micro-simulation modelling. A major emphasis of the policy was the promotion of paid work, and the potential for poverty reduction of increasing the employment of parents is explored.

This paper is the product of the authors’ detailed study of food intervention programmes in nine countries. It identifies the imperfections common to all such schemes, finding that most can be brought under two headings - the ‘two errors’ of the title. These mistakes involve excess coverage - food aid is misdirected and reaches a non-priority population - and are characterised by a failure in the prime objective of the intervention. Having made the diagnosis, the authors go on to discuss possible remedies, highlighting areas in which improvements might be made to the structure of food initiatives. It is hoped that this document will be of value to all those working to ensure that food aid gets to the people who need it most.