The extent, nature and consequences of poverty and social exclusion and how best to address them via social policy has long been and remains at the centre of social policy research and practice. Inequality in the distribution of economic resources in the form of income and wealth underlie poverty and exclusion and have been received even more attention in recent years as many countries see increasing concentration of resources.  The variation in poverty risks and in economic resources more broadly across various social groups including by class, gender, and race, and how these overlap and intersect, is also a major focus. Understanding of these patterns and inequalities and the causal processes that produce them is an essential input into the design of policy across the domains of social policy from health through education, social protection and social care and the taxes that fund them.

Our work in this theme covers a wide range of topics and policy areas including welfare reform, education, the intergenerational transmission of advantage and disadvantage including via education and wealth, health inequalities and policies, increasing resilience for individuals and families, and how best to capture poverty empirically. It covers diverse settings and geographies across rich and developing countries and employs a variety of analytical methods.