Inclusive Economies

Our work explores what characterises inclusive economies and how these can be achieved, particularly in a world where new technologies, rural to urban migration, and growing youth populations are disrupting and putting new pressures on people’s lives and livelihoods.

Our research looks at the impacts of business and markets on development and inequality and explores the potential for novel market-based solutions to work for the poorest and most marginalised based on gender, ethnicity and disability.  It explores alternatives that enable workers, consumers and communities to have a real voice.

It continues to revitalise debates on agriculture as a key pathway out of poverty and towards inclusion, particularly for young people. Our work is focused on identifying what opportunities exist in a period of agricultural commercialisation and rural transformation and how far different groups are able to access them.  It also understands how new technologies such as drones or blockchains pose risks, but can also be harnessed to improve the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people.  In a rapidly urbanising world where cities have become focal points for economic growth, jobs and innovation but also for poverty, inequality, vulnerability and conflict, our work explores what this means for both urban and rural people, and the opportunities and challenges they face in living safe and fulfilling lives.

People

Jodie Thorpe

Research Fellow

Philip Mader

Research Fellow

Richard Jolly

Research Associate

Ana Pueyo

Research Fellow

Carlos Fortin

Research Associate

Rachel Sabates-Wheeler

Research Fellow

Keetie Roelen

IDS Honorary Associate

Giel Ton

Research Fellow

Programmes and centres

Projects

Recent work

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Showing 14725–14736 of 14836 results

Publication

Paradigm Shifts and the Practice of Participatory Research and Development

IDS working papers;2


"Participation" has three uses and meanings: cosmetic labelling, to look good, co-opting practice, to secure local action and resources; and empowering process, to enable people to take command and do things themselves. Its new popularity is part o f changes in development rhetoric, thinking...

1 January 1994

Publication

Food Security: A Post-modern Perspective

IDS working papers;9


The paper explores post-modern currents in food security. It identifies three main shifts in thinking about food security since the World Food Conference o f 1974: from the global and the national to the household and the individual; from a food first perspective to a livelihood perspective;...

1 January 1994

Publication

Exporting Manufactures: Trade Policy or Human Resources?

IDS working papers;4

Whether a country exports manufactures or primary products is determined mainly by the skill level of its labour force, relative to the extent of its natural resources. This proposition is derived from a modified version of Heckscher-Ohlin theory, and strongly supported by econometric evidence....

1 January 1994

Publication

The Poor and the Environment: Whose Reality Counts?

IDS working papers;3


Sustainable rural livelihoods will be needed for many more people in the 21st century. Three widespread views tend to mislead and need to be qualified: that more people in rural areas is always and necessarily bad for the environment; that poor people inherently take the short-term view; and...

1 January 1994

Publication

Market Reforms and the Emergence of Civil Society in Post-Mao China

IDS working papers;6


Any inquiry into the emergence of "civil society" in post-Mao China is bedevilled both by ambiguity o f the term "civil society" itself and the complexity of the historical process it is used to describe. This problem extends far beyond the Chinese case, since the idea of "civil society" has...

1 January 1994

Journal Article

New Approaches to Famine

24

Famine is a preventable tragedy. Unlike poverty or chronic food insecurity, famine could probably be eliminated rapidly by a quite simple set of policies. Such policies might be politically feasible. So the abolition of famine is a realistic goal, perhaps by the end of this decade.

1 October 1993

Journal Article

Towards a Political Analysis of Markets

IDS Bulletin 47.2A

The author argues that conventional economics ignores or marginalises the role of power and politics which are crucial factors in conditioning the variable structure and performance of markets.

Gordon White

15 July 1993

Why learn with us.

In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).