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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News

IDS Emeritus Fellow appointed Deputy Governor at Central Bank of Chile

IDS Emeritus Fellow, Stephany Griffith-Jones, has been appointed Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Chile starting from 25 January 2024. A well-known economist, specialising in international finance and development, Stephany Griffith-Jones, was first appointed to the board of the Chilean...

2 February 2024

News

Five themes crucial for recasting development in 2024

Humanitarian systems under strain; the increasing need for rapid – but equitable – climate action; and democracy under threat. These are just a few of the many challenges currently facing the development sector. In its Recasting Development in 2024 event on 31 January, experts from IDS...

1 February 2024

Working Paper

Are Trade Rules Undermining Taxation of the Digital Economy in Africa?

ICTD Working Paper 181

African countries are currently considering provisions in the AfCFTA and at the WTO to liberalise digital trade. As they face mounting fiscal pressures, it is imperative that they beware the implications of digital trade provisions for their ability to tax their digital economy. In this...

Alexander Beyleveld

1 February 2024

Opinion

Universal social protection urgently needed in Lebanon

The ruling class in the Lebanese government has been accused of misusing social assistance provisioning to benefit themselves and their supporters for decades. Their influence as political elites enables them to control state social institutions, skim aid from international donors and exert...

30 January 2024

Opinion

Uncertain Worlds – watch our new animation

Uncertainty is all around – how can we respond? Experiences from pastoralism show that flexible, adaptive, caring responses are vital for dealing with uncertainties. But dominant approaches in many areas are often about exerting control, and assuming predictable risks. Here’s a new short...

30 January 2024

Past Event

Recasting Development in 2024

As we start off the year, how can we shift gears in the struggle against injustice, inequity and oppression? Watch now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QYJa7FWI9Y&t=94s In 2024, we look as far away as ever from achieving a world which is genuinely equitable, sustainable and...

30 January 2024

News

World’s wealthiest want to be taxed more – can this work?

More than 260 billionaires and millionaires called on global leaders to introduce higher taxes for the extremely wealthy in open letter. Entitled Proud to Pay More, officials attending the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week were urged to tax “the...

29 January 2024

Opinion

Managing money: savings and investment in Zimbabwean agriculture

The previous two blogs have explored how people in rural settings get hold of money, either through loans/credit or from remittances, but making use of and managing money is a challenge, especially in a high-inflation economy and one with parallel exchange rates. Here, savings arrangements are...

29 January 2024

Working Paper

Measurement and Mirage: The Informal Sector Revisited

IDS Working Paper 599

Recent years have seen an increasing availability and usage of measurements of informal sectors as the basis of scholarship and policy advice on the causes and consequences of informality. This has created an impression of a consensus around a clearly conceptualised and operationalised object of...

29 January 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).