This bulletin reports on the PSE research project, well-being indicators and North/South of Ireland poverty measurement.
Children’s perceptions of life satisfaction are not directly linked to conventional income-based measures of poverty, says a research paper from Essex University.
The study looked at whether household income, household material deprivation and child material deprivation are associated with child life satisfaction. It was based on a sample of children aged 10–15 participating in Understanding Society, the new UK Household Longitudinal Study.
Inequality has reached extreme proportions in many countries - but, according to campaigners, the problem is far worse than anyone has understood it until now. This is because all studies exploring economic inequality have systematically underestimated the wealth and income enjoyed by the world's wealthiest individuals.
Eight of the world's most respected economists specialising in economic inequality were interviewed for the study. They all confirmed a huge under-reporting problem in this area.
The Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (PSE: UK) survey will re-interview respondents to the 2010/11 Family Resources Survey (FRS) who have provided permission to be contacted again. A sampling frame is required to select a minimum achieved sample of 4,000 households and 6,000 individuals in Britain and a minimum achieved sample of 1,000 households and 1,500 individuals in Northern Ireland. This paper sets out details of the sampling frame to be used.
In this consultation response, Professor David Gordon and the PSE: UK research team recommend that a national ‘service deprivation’ measure is produced based on a social survey question module. Subsequently, the value of this measure can be estimated for Local Authorities (and other areas) by combining relevant census/administrative statistics and micro-survey data using small area estimation models.
In this consultation response, the PSE research team welcomes the emphasis on early years in the Field Review’s report, The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children becoming Poor Adults, but is critical of key aspects of the report. The response working paper argues that key elements of the proposed strategy are ‘narrow, partial and highly likely to be ineffective’. Read a summary.
This report describes the results of a series of fourteen focus groups conducted as part of the development work for the PSE: UK research that explored perceptions of poverty, social exclusion and living standards in the UK today. The focus group research uncovered little evidence of consistent variation in perceptions of ‘necessities of life’ across social groups, for example on the basis of household type, ethnicity or income status. The paper explores definitional issues with regards to the term ‘necessity’ and the extent to which contextual information is used in making decisions. It also discusses questions as to the extent to which the availability of public goods and services affects participants’ decisions.
Recent austerity measures in the UK have resulted in major reductions in spending on local public services, which will have a significant impact on both the level and quality of local service provision. This paper presents a new analysis of people’s attitudes to local services and discusses to what extent the degree and allocation of public service cuts reflect the priorities of the general population. Overall, it was found that support for local services remains very high across the UK and has in some cases increased since 1999. This paper also notes that major cuts to preventative services may imply greater costs in core services in the long run. The analysis is based on the PSE: UK research questions on local services in the Omnibus Survey, conducted in the United Kingdom in July 2011. The paper also draws on previous analysis of the 1999 Poverty and Social Exclusion survey and the 1990 Breadline Britain Survey of comparable questions.
This working paper presents the opinions of the general public as to which items and activities are believed necessary in Northern Ireland today to enjoy a decent standard of living. It is based on an analysis of responses to a module in the Omnibus survey conducted in Northern Ireland in 2011. The responses are explored by key socio-demographic and economic variables to ascertain the extent of agreement among the general public as to their importance. While there are some differences of opinion between different groups in society, in general a very high degree of consensus on the necessities is evident. The survey findings confirm that the items and activities that are essential to achieve an acceptable standard of living in our society today and which all adults should be able to afford and not have to do without are both material and social in nature.
Married or cohabiting couples enjoy large-scale economies in living costs, new research finds, but substantial diseconomies when children or further adults are added.
Essex University researchers tried to identify the adjustment needed when comparing the incomes of any two families with a different size and structure – on the basis that poverty depends not just on a family’s income but also on their needs. To do this, the researchers analysed the relationship between income, demographic structure and subjective assessments of financial well-being by drawing on data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) for the years 1991–2008.