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 193–204 of 14831 results

Past Event

Book launch: Smugglers and States

We are thrilled to host the launch for the book Smugglers and States, with an introduction by its author Max Gallien, followed by a drinks reception. Watch now https://youtu.be/0FWfe5rBxhw?si=2lOkA3QZMkb_xGrs&t=86 Smuggling is typically thought of as furtive and hidden, taking place under...

21 March 2024

Working Paper

Engendering Taxation: a Research and Policy Agenda

ICTD Working Paper 186

This paper reviews the existing literature and related debates on gender and tax in lower income countries. It identifies knowledge gaps, and maps broader issues that are relevant for understanding the gendered impact of taxation.

Anuradha Joshi
Anuradha Joshi & 2 others

20 March 2024

Past Event

International Conference on Global Land Grabbing

The Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) is hosting an International Conference on Global Land Grabbing in Bogota, Colombia with partners including the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Cornell University, City University of New York,  International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The...

From 19 March 2024 until 21 March 2024

Opinion

The politics of Zimbabwe’s land reform: winners and losers

The political debates about the rights and wrongs of Zimbabwe’s land reform continue to occupy many. The tired, old obsession about how the land was taken and the associated focus on so-called ‘cronies’ persists, despite much evidence to suggest that the process was highly varied and...

18 March 2024

Opinion

The gendered burden of care in Sri Lanka’s polycrisis

For women in working-class poor settlements in Colombo, since Covid-19, it seems that crises have kept on coming with no respite. At the height of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis in 2022 when food inflation reached 90% the shocks were far from over. Electricity tariff rates were revised and...

18 March 2024

Opinion

The sanitation circular economy - rhetoric vs. reality

Sanitation remains one of the most off-track Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 3.4 billion people, about 46 percent of the world’s population, still without access to safe sanitation facilities. Approaches such as Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) have helped shift countries...

Deepa Joshi & 2 others

18 March 2024

Opinion

What happened to the global land grab?

In 2011, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) hosted a major conference on land grabbing to take stock of the impacts across the world. The event was convened by the recently formed Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI), which involved IDS through the Future Agricultures Consortium and the...

15 March 2024

News

Feminist recommendations: a list by gender students

Within the context of International Women’s Day and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 68 event, the IDS MA in Gender and Development (MAGAD) 2023 – 2024 cohort has curated a list of informative and inspiring feminist resources.   The MAGAD students recognise the transformative...

13 March 2024

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).