Poverty and Inequality Research at SED
Eradicating absolute poverty is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Currently, large numbers of the world's population are still trapped in chronic poverty, and more than 1.4 billion people around the world survive on less than one dollar a day.
A significant amount of SED's research aims at producing new knowledge and policy guidance on the causes of poverty and the best ways to eradicate it, in the global North as well as South.
Poverty Analysis
SED places a strong focus on improving understandings of poverty.
A key contribution has been a deeper understanding of the nature and impacts of chronic poverty, building on the success of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), funded by the UK Government and hosted at Manchester from 2001 to 2011.
The emphasis here is in particular on the multi-dimensional character of chronic poverty, its links to vulnerability and unequal power relations.
A strong emphasis is also placed on the importance of poor people's perceptions of poverty and their aspirations for a better future.
Global Governance
The launch of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 
committed world leaders to halving the proportion of the global population that survives on less than $1 a day by the year 2015 (MDG1).
Progress towards this goal has been uneven however, and research at the School's Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) strongly suggests the need for renewed engagement and commitment amongst global and national elites.
This is taking place within a fast-changing global context; SED researchers are thus exploring for example also the influence of new rising powers over the development prospects of the poorest countries.
Pathways out of Poverty
A great deal of our research identifies routes out of poverty, including how social protection programmes, including cash transfers, can lift people out of poverty.
The Capturing the Gains programme brings together an international network of experts from North and South to research and promote strategies for fairer trade and decent work.
SED research also focuses on the role that urban social movements play in poverty reduction, and has made a major intervention in helping the transitional government in Zimbabwe to think through options for recovery and development.
The Politics of Poverty Reduction
SED research reveals that poverty reduction requires not only new policies but also significant shifts to the institutions and power relations that underpin development.
The School's new Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) research centre builds in part on the previous work of CPRC and of the Improving Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth (IPPG) research programme to identify the political drivers of development, in collaboration with research organisations in Bangladesh , Ghana , India , Malawi , Uganda and the United States.
Poverty and Inequality Research Projects Projects at SED
Ageing, Well-Being and Development: A Comparative Study of Brazil and South Africa
Principal Investigator: Armando Barrientos
Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council
Beyond the BRICs: The Emerging Middle and Global Poverty Reduction
Principal Investigator: David Hulme
Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council
Capturing the Gains: Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Production Networks and Trade
Principal Investigator: Stephanie Barrientos
Funding Body: UK Department for International Development
Community and Institutional Responses to the Challenges Facing Poor Urban People in an Era of Global Warming in Bangladesh
Principal Investigators: David Hulme, Manoj Roy and Simon Guy
Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council / UK Department for International Development
Community Based Systems in HIV Treatment
Principal Investigator: Sarah Bracking
Funding Body: European Union ACP Science and Technology Programme
Economic Reforms and the Evolution of Productivity in Indian Manufacturing Firms
Principal Investigator: Kunal Sen
Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council
Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) - Research Programme Consortium
Principal Investigators: David Hulme, Sam Hickey, Kunal Sen
Funding Body: UK Department for International Development
Impact of Macroeconomic Policies and Exogenous Shocks on Employment and Poverty in Africa: Simulations for Benin, Burkina Faso and Senegal
Principal Investigator: Ralitza Dimova
Funding Body: British Academy
Understanding the Tipping Point of Urban Conflict: Violence, Cities, and Poverty Reduction in the Developing World
Principal Investigators: Caroline Moser, Dennis Rodgers
Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council / UK Department for International Development
Poverty and Inequality Expertise at SED
Armando Barrientos specialises in research on the linkages between social protection and labour markets in developing countries from a persistent poverty and vulnerability perspective. This includes research on the economic and social effects of ageing in developing countries on the rapid expansion of social programmes in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Stephanie Barrientos investigates gender, global production, employment, decent work, international labour standards, corporate social responsibility, fair trade, and ethical trade.
Tanja Bastia researches social relations, mobility and inequality, trafficking policy discourses and their implications for migrants’ rights, migrants and the right to the city, and migrant’s experiences of economic crises.
Amanda Berlan specialises in sustainable agriculture, with a special focus on cocoa production, poverty and sustainability. Her research interests include fair and ethical trade, corporate social responsibility, sustainable production methods and productivity, education, child rights and labour issues.
Sarah Bracking’s work focuses on processes of poverty and the political economy of impoverishment, dispossession and destitution; politics and development, with a particular focus on the comparative political analysis of democracies and democratisation; and malign politics, political corruption, authoritarianism and state collapse.
Admos Chimhowu’s research focuses on agrarian change and social transformation; land reforms, poverty and livelihoods; migration, remittances and poverty; and spatial inequality and regional development.
Ralitza Dimova is an expert in development microeconomics, with a particular focus on nutrition, labour markets and return to education in developing countries, and a specialist in economic demography, focusing in particular on ageing and intergenerational transfers.
Barbara Evers is an economist with interests in the gender analysis of economic theory and policies in agricultural economies. Her current research focuses on understanding transformations in global production networks, particularly agro-foods and tourism in East Africa, and exploring the gender dynamics of these changes.
Sam Hickey’s research examines the politics of development and poverty reduction, and includes theoretical and empirical work on issues of social exclusion and adverse incorporation, citizenship and participation, social movements and NGOs, the politics of social protection, the use of political analysis in international development, and the impact of the poverty agenda within international development.
David Hulme’s research focuses on poverty reduction strategies, governance and public sector management, finance for the poor, the sociology of development, the role of community organisations and NGOs in poverty reduction, the evaluation of technical assistance, rural development policy and planning and environmental management.
Solava Ibrahim’s research focuses on the collective capabilities and grassroots organisations/initiatives of the poor. Her research interests include human development, agency and empowerment, service delivery and local governance for effective poverty reduction as well as gender and informal settlements with a special focus on politics in the Middle East, especially in Egypt.
Uma Kothari’s research interests include the history and theories of development; colonialism, postcolonialism and development; race and racism in development; social development; gender and development; migration, culture and identity.
David Lawson’s specialises in the microeconometric analysis of poverty and poverty dynamics, particularly in relation to health and gender issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. His current work focuses on the cross country analysis of gender empowerment, violence and health issues in relation to poverty.
Melanie Lombard researches informal settlements, marginalisation, land tenure, regularisation and conflict in Latin America.
Diana Mitlin’s research focuses on urban inequality and poverty, state and civil society shelter policies, grassroots organizations and community development, and civil society and development.
Caroline Moser’s research focuses on asset accumulation and poverty reduction in cities of the South, including household asset vulnerability, transnational migration, and asset adaptation to climate change. Her current projects include Pro-Poor Adaptation to Climate Change in Urban Centres: Kenya and Nicaragua Case Studies and Intergenerational Asset Accumulation and Poverty Reduction in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Khalid Nadvi’s research interests include globalisation, international trade, industrial development, innovation, small enterprises, employment, labour and poverty.
Dennis Rodgers investigates conflict and violence (including, in particular, gangs), urban poverty, inequality, urban development, the politics of planning, the social construction of development knowledge, and the fiction of development.
Kunal Sen specialises in macroeconomics, finance and international trade, and the measurement and analysis of poverty. His research focuses in particular on the Indian economy, but he has also published extensively on East Asian and Sub-Saharan African economies.
James Scott’s research focuses on global governance, particularly trade governance, and how this impacts on poverty. He also works on emerging powers and how they are changing the politics of development and impacting on global governance.
Manoj Roy works on climate change and urban poverty in Bangladesh. His current research focuses on understanding how vulnerable urban communities in Bangladesh respond to climate change impacts and how to enhance community resilience to such threats through design, planning and community organisation.