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 welcomes new cohort of master’s students and PhD researchers

As summer transitions into autumn in the UK, the seasonal change sees IDS bid farewell to one cohort of students who make way for the class of 2023-24. It is an exciting time of year for everyone across the institute, as we get to celebrate success with our 2022-23 students and welcome over...

23 October 2023

Journal Article

Economics for an Uncertain World

Uncertainty, where we do not know the likelihood of future events, dominates our world. This article examines how economics as a profession and discipline can address uncertainty. From Frank Knight to John Maynard Keynes to Friedrich von Hayek to George Shackle, economics has highlighted the...

23 October 2023

Opinion

Processing crops in Zimbabwe: adding value through mechanisation

This blog continues our short series on small-scale agricultural mechanisation in Zimbabwe. This week we turn to how mechanisation is changing the capacity to process agricultural produce and so add value locally. Selling to larger scale manufacturers, millers and so on is less and less...

23 October 2023

Journal

Knowledge in Times of Crisis: Transforming Research-to-Policy Approaches

IDS Bulletin 54.2

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges for researchers and policy analysts, and accentuated the need for access to civil society and advocacy movements within politically closed spaces. The impact of locally led Covid-19 response research in the global South has subsequently...

23 October 2023

Student Opinion

Meet our MA Food & Development students

On World Food Day, we asked our current cohort of MA Food & Development students why they chose to study this topic, and what change they would most like to see in the world.

17 October 2023

News

Uncertain Worlds: seven stories about uncertainty

If you can’t control or predict the future, how can you prepare for it? Uncertainty can be scary, but can it also be a source of hope or opportunity? A new series from the IDS co-hosted PASTRES programme of seven illustrated stories explores uncertainty in the worlds of economics, banking...

17 October 2023

Report

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Making Unpaid WASH Work Visible

SLH Learning Paper;18

Target 5.4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) involves the recognition and valuing of unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW). Much UCDW is related to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and daily workloads increase when household and community WASH services are weak, in disrepair or...

16 October 2023

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).