tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/socioeconomics-6158/articlesSocioeconomics – The Conversation2023-03-22T20:21:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2016292023-03-22T20:21:55Z2023-03-22T20:21:55ZGetting a fuller picture of poverty in Canada: why the government’s official poverty measure is insufficient<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516800/original/file-20230321-2579-gncbfx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C211%2C2842%2C1922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A volunteer bags groceries to hand to people in need at a Sun Youth charity location in Montréal in July 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/getting-a-fuller-picture-of-poverty-in-canada--why-the-government-s-official-poverty-measure-is-insufficient" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada’s inflation rate has started to ease up <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/armstrong-inflation-bank-of-canada-cpi-1.6759782">after peaking at 8.1 per cent last summer</a>, but food and shelter prices are showing <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2023003-eng.htm">little sign of slowing down</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2023003-eng.htm">Increases in wages and earnings</a> only partially make up for lost purchasing power. Those working in lower paying industries are less likely to see their wages rise.</p>
<p>Many Canadians are struggling and those <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2023001/article/00002-eng.htm">on tighter budgets with less financial leeway</a> are being hit especially hard. During fall 2022, one in four Canadians indicated they were finding it <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230307/dq230307b-eng.htm">difficult to meet food, shelter and other necessary expenses</a>, up from about one in five Canadians in summer 2021.</p>
<p>But these statistics are only part of the picture — Canada’s <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/topics-start/poverty">official poverty measure</a> only focuses on income and ignores other important factors. This means millions of Canadians living in poverty are potentially going unseen and unheard.</p>
<h2>Canada’s official poverty measure</h2>
<p>Canada’s official poverty measure, the market-basket measure, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/poverty-reduction/reports/strategy.html#h2.15">is based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services</a> representing a modest, basic standard of living. </p>
<p>This basket is priced for a family of two adults and two children and takes local prices into account. When a family’s disposable income is less than that of the basket, they are income poor. For other living arrangements, there is a formula that adjusts the poverty threshold using the households’ size. </p>
<p>Yet, people’s individual circumstances are often more diverse than the market-basket measure can handle. </p>
<p>The market-basket measure ignores when people’s spending is higher because they have non-standard needs, such as a food allergy, student loan payments or they are paying above-average market rent for low-cost housing.</p>
<p>Higher expenditures to attain a basic standard of living explains why some people experience material deprivation while having an income above the poverty threshold.</p>
<p>Alternatively, access to resources other than income can explain why some people can avoid material deprivation despite having low income. This is because the market-basket measure disregards financial resources, such as savings or credit, that help finance an acceptable living standard, despite low income. </p>
<p>The market-basket measure also misses when people have access to subsidized goods and services, and work-related benefits like health benefits, which reduce out-of-pocket spending. Canada’s official poverty measure makes mistakes on both sides by excluding many who probably should be counted and including many that probably shouldn’t be.</p>
<h2>A complementary poverty measure</h2>
<p>I work with <a href="https://foodbankscanada.ca/providing-a-fuller-picture-of-poverty-in-canada-the-material-deprivation-index/">Food Banks Canada to collect data that provides a broader picture of poverty</a> by focusing on a poverty measure called <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-011">material deprivation</a>. Material deprivation focuses on items that people with an acceptable living standard can afford, rather than just income.</p>
<p>We used opinion surveys and focus groups to identify socially perceived necessities for Canadians. An item is deemed a necessity when most respondents view it is necessary, or very necessary, for a decent standard of living.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram that illustrates low-income and material deprivation indicators are added together to result in a material deprivation assessment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516808/original/file-20230321-3159-ep26sh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The material dimension of poverty is calculated by taking low-income and material deprivation indicators into account.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Geranda Notten)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Examples of these necessities include a pair of properly fitting shoes and at least one pair of winter boots; the ability to eat meat, fish or another protein equivalent every second day; and the ability to buy small gifts for family or friends once a year. </p>
<p>People are considered item deprived when they cannot possess a necessary item or engage in necessary activities due to a lack of money. People are considered materially deprived when they lack more items than the deprivation threshold.</p>
<p>There is no question that poverty is increasing right now. The market-basket measure numbers will reflect this, but they will nonetheless miss a key part of the poverty story. </p>
<p>Our material deprivation data will tell that story. </p>
<p>Routinely collecting such data as a complement to income poverty statistics makes sense. Not only in times of record inflation but always. Not only for charitable organizations but also for Canadian governments.</p>
<h2>Policy that reduces poverty</h2>
<p>Inaccurate poverty measurement tools not only skew our understanding of how much poverty there is and who is at risk, but also <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-011">skew how policies contribute to reducing poverty</a>.</p>
<p>Since he was elected in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/results/poverty-reduction.html">poverty reduction</a> is a priority of the federal government. The government is now working towards <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/agenda-2030/national-strategy.html">reducing poverty by 50 per cent by 2030</a>, as determined by the market-basket measure.</p>
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<span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joined virtually by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa in May 2021 as they discuss the Canada Child Benefit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
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<p>Knowledge that poverty is more widespread than what is deemed low-income implies that eligibility tests Canadians must meet to access government supports may have to be less stringent.</p>
<p>Likewise, such knowledge cautions against reducing income-tested government transfers like the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-workers-benefit.html">Canada workers benefit</a>, a refundable tax credit for low-income workers.</p>
<p>Moreover, comparisons between the effects of an income transfer like the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-child-benefit-overview.html">Canada child benefit
</a> and subsidies like the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/child-care.html">Early Learning and Child Care system</a> may be skewed. Income poverty measures automatically account for the income transfer, but they might underestimate or ignore the poverty reduction effect of subsidies.</p>
<p>Currently, we can only speculate about the scope and magnitude of such biases. But, given the relatively large gaps between low-income and materially deprived households, they could be substantive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201629/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geranda Notten works with Food Banks Canada to develop a Material Deprivation Index for Canada. The views in this article reflect those of the author only.</span></em></p>Canada’s official poverty measure only focuses on income and ignores other important factors, meaning there are millions of Canadians living in poverty that are ignored by the measure.Geranda Notten, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864882022-08-18T15:10:12Z2022-08-18T15:10:12ZBeyond GDP: changing how we measure progress is key to tackling a world in crisis – three leading experts<p>It’s an odd quirk of history that, on the first day of his ill-fated presidential campaign in March 1968, Robert F Kennedy chose to talk to his audience about the <a href="https://cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/rfk-gdp50/">limitations of gross domestic product</a>* (GDP) – the world’s headline indicator of economic progress.</p>
<p>It seems stranger still that, despite the power of that iconic speech, growth in <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/basics/gdp.htm">GDP</a> remains to this day the predominant measure of progress across the world. Economic success is measured by it. Government policy is assessed by it. Political survival hangs on it.</p>
<p>Kennedy’s speech inspired a host of critiques. It has been quoted by presidents, prime ministers and Nobel laureates. <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691169859/gdp">Yet GDP itself has survived until now</a>, more-or-less unscathed. But amid ever-louder concerns about the failure of national economies to tackle the multiple threats posed by climate change, spiralling energy costs, insecure employment and widening levels of inequality, the need to define and measure progress in a different way now looks as unarguable as it is urgent.</p>
<h2>The goods, the bads, and the missing</h2>
<p>In simple terms, GDP is a measure of the size of a country’s economy: how much is produced, how much is earned, and how much is spent on goods and services across the nation. The monetary total, whether in dollars or euros, yuan or yen, is then adjusted for any general increase in prices to give a measure of “real” economic growth over time. When governments adopt policies to pursue economic growth, this is how those policies are evaluated.</p>
<p>Since 1953, GDP has been the headline measure in a complex <a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/sna.asp#:%7E:text=The%20System%20of%20National%20Accounts%20(SNA)&text=The%20SNA%20describes%20a%20coherent,definitions%2C%20classifications%20and%20accounting%20rules.">system of national accounts</a> overseen by the United Nations. Developed during the second world war, these accounts were motivated in part by the need to determine how much governments could afford to spend on the war effort.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>But in measuring the monetary value of economic activity, GDP can incorporate many of the “bads” that detract from our quality of life. War, pollution, crime, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-prostitution-really-worth-5-7-billion-a-year-33497">prostitution</a>, traffic congestion, disasters like wildfires and the destruction of nature – all can have a positive impact on GDP. Yet they cannot really be construed as components of economic success.</p>
<p>At the same time, there are numerous aspects of our lives that simply go missing from this conventional account. The inequality in our societies. The contributions from unpaid work. The labour of those who care for the young and the elderly at home or in the community. The depletion of natural resources or biodiversity. And the value of data and many digital services.</p>
<p>What lies outside the market, including public services funded out of taxation, remains unmeasured in a metric of monetary exchange. Kennedy was blunt: “[GDP] measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”</p>
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<p>It’s a sentiment that has resonance half a century later. In a striking encounter during the Brexit debate, a UK academic was trying to convey to a public meeting the dangers of leaving the EU. The impact on GDP would dwarf any savings from the UK’s contributions to the EU budget, he told the audience. “That’s your bloody GDP!” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/10/blunt-heckler-economists-failing-us-booming-britain-gdp-london">shouted</a> a woman in the crowd. “It’s not ours.”</p>
<p>This sense of an indicator out of touch with reality may be one of the reasons there is momentum for reform. When GDP conceals crucial differences between the richest and the poorest in society, it inevitably says little about the prospects for ordinary people.</p>
<p>But there are other reasons too for an emerging change of heart. The pursuit of GDP growth as a policy goal, and the impact that has on government, business and personal decision-making, has accompanied increasing devastation of the natural world, a loss of forests and habitats, the destabilisation of the climate, and near-meltdowns of the world’s financial markets. At the same time, GDP has become a poor measure of the technological transformation of society.</p>
<p>Its tenacity as a measure of progress, despite these well-known limitations, arises from factors which are on the one hand technocratic, and on the other sociological. As the headline measure in a sophisticated system of national accounts, GDP has a technocratic convenience and analytical elegance that remains unsurpassed by many alternative measures. Its authority arises from its ability to be simultaneously a measure of production output, consumption expenditure and income in the economy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gdp-numbers-are-not-what-they-seem-how-they-boost-us-and-uk-at-expense-of-developing-countries-162468">GDP numbers are not what they seem: how they boost US and UK at expense of developing countries</a>
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<p>Despite this complex framework, it also offers the deceptive simplicity of a single headline figure which appears to be directly comparable from year to year and across nations, based on the simple (if inadequate) idea that more economic activity necessarily leads to a better life.</p>
<p>However, the combined technical authority and political usefulness of this idea has led to “path dependence” and forms of social lock-in that are difficult to address without significant effort. Think of switching to an alternative as being like switching from driving on the left to the right-hand side of the road.</p>
<p>Yet what we measure matters. And while we’re busy looking in the wrong direction, as Kennedy pointed out, bad things can happen. Kennedy’s campaign – and his critique of GDP – was cut cruelly short on June 5 1968, when he was fatally wounded by an assassin’s bullet. More than half a century later, his call for reform of how we assess progress (or its absence) has never been stronger.</p>
<h2>The trouble with GDP: historical flaws</h2>
<p>The way societies have understood and measured progress has changed considerably over the centuries. Measurement of “the economy” as a whole is a relatively modern, 20th-century concept, beginning with efforts by statisticians and economists such as Colin Clark and Simon Kuznets in the 1920s and 1930s to understand the impact of financial crisis and depression.</p>
<p>Kuznets, now best known for his <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/environmental-kuznets-curve">curve</a> describing the relationship between GDP and income inequality, was particularly concerned to develop a measure of economic welfare rather than just activity. For example, he argued for omitting expenditures that were unwelcome necessities rather than services or goods consumers actively wanted – such as defence spending.</p>
<p>However, the second world war overtook and absorbed these earlier notions of a single measure of economic welfare, resulting in what first became modern gross national product <a href="https://apps.bea.gov/scb/2021/03-march/pdf/0321-reprint-gnp.pdf">(GNP</a>), and then GDP. The imperative – set out on the Allied side by John Maynard Keynes in his 1940 pamphlet <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/pay-war-6021">How to Pay for the War</a> – was measuring productive capacity, and the reduction in consumption required to have enough resources to support the military effort. Economic welfare was a peacetime concern.</p>
<p>Post-war, unsurprisingly, American and British economists such as Milton Gilbert, James Meade and Richard Stone took the lead in codifying these statistical definitions through the UN – and its process for agreeing and formalising definitions in the system of national accounts (SNA) is still in place today. However, since at least the 1940s, some important inadequacies of both the SNA and GDP have been widely known and debated.</p>
<p>Indeed, as long ago as 1934, Margaret Reid published her book <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/255033">Economics of Household Production</a>, which pointed out the need to include unpaid work in the home when thinking about economically useful activity.</p>
<p>The question of whether and how to measure the household and informal sectors was debated during the 1950s – particularly as this makes up a larger share of activity in low-income countries – but was omitted until some countries, including the UK, started to create <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/satelliteaccounts/compendium/householdsatelliteaccounts/previousReleases">household satellite accounts</a> around 2000. Omitting unpaid work meant, for instance, that the UK’s increased productivity growth between the 1960s and 1980s was then overstated, because it in part reflected the <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/changing-business-cycles-role-women-s-employment">inclusion of many more women in paid work</a> whose contributions had previously been invisible to the national GDP metric.</p>
<p>Another longstanding and widely understood failure of GDP is not including environmental externalities and the depletion of natural capital. The metric takes incomplete account of many activities that do not have market prices, and ignores the additional social costs of pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and similar outputs associated with economic activities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-obsession-with-economic-growth-will-not-make-the-best-use-of-natural-assets-30283">An obsession with economic growth will not make the best use of natural assets</a>
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<p>What’s more, the depletion or loss of assets such as natural resources (or indeed buildings and infrastructure lost in disasters) boosts GDP in the short term because these resources are used in economic activities, or because there is a surge in construction after a disaster. Yet the long-term opportunity costs are never counted. This massive shortcoming was widely discussed at the time of landmark publications such as the <a href="https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/the-limits-to-growth/">1972 Limits to Growth report</a> from the Club of Rome, and the 1987 <a href="https://www.are.admin.ch/are/en/home/media/publications/sustainable-development/brundtland-report.html">Brundtland Report</a> from the World Commission on Environment and Development.</p>
<p>As with household and informal activity, there has been recent progress in accounting for nature, with the development of the <a href="https://seea.un.org/content/about-seea">System of Environmental Economic Accounting</a> (SEEA) and publication of regular (but separate) statistics on natural capital in a number of countries. The <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/methodologies/naturalcapital">UK</a> has again been a pioneer in this area, while the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/04/24/accounting-for-nature-on-earth-day-2022/">US recently announced</a> it would start following this approach too.</p>
<h2>New challenges to the value of GDP</h2>
<p>Other, perhaps less obvious failings of GDP have become more prominent recently. Digitisation of the economy has transformed the way many people spend their days in work and leisure, and the way many businesses operate, yet these transformations are not apparent in official statistics.</p>
<p>Measuring innovation has always been tricky, because new goods or improved quality need to be incorporated into observable prices and quantities – and what is the metric for a unit of software or management consultancy? But it is harder now because many digital services are “free” at point of use, or have the features of public goods in that many people can use them at the same time, or are intangible. For example, data is without doubt improving the productivity of companies that know how to use it to improve their services and produce goods more effectively – but how should a dataset’s value, or potential value, to society (as opposed to a big tech company) be estimated?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques/4770156?sommaire=4770271">Recent work</a> looking at the price of telecommunications services in the UK has estimated that output growth in this sector since 2010 has ranged anywhere from <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/methodologies/doubledeflationmethodsanddeflatorimprovementstouknationalaccountsbluebook2021">about 0% to 90%</a>, depending on how the price index used to convert market prices to real (inflation-adjusted) prices takes account of the economic value of our rapidly growing use of data. Similarly, it is not obvious how to incorporate advertising-funded “free” search, crypto currencies and <a href="https://theconversation.com/nfts-explained-what-they-are-why-rock-stars-are-using-them-and-why-theyre-selling-for-millions-of-dollars-156389#:%7E:text=NFTs%20are%20digital%20certificates%20that,alternative%20to%20a%20central%20database.">NFTs</a> in the measurement framework.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Crowd looking into art showroom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479625/original/file-20220817-8075-ynmg73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street artist Banksy’s temporary showroom critiquing global society in south London, October 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-october-2-2019-crowds-1523572547">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A key limitation of GDP, particularly in terms of its use as an indicator of social progress, is that it offers no systematic account of the distribution of incomes. It is entirely possible for average or aggregate GDP to be rising, even as a significant proportion of the population find themselves worse off.</p>
<p>Ordinary incomes have stagnated or fallen in recent decades even as the richest in society have become wealthier. In the US, for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/07/opinion/leonhardt-income-inequality.html">Thomas Piketty and his colleagues</a> have shown that in the period between 1980 and 2016, the top 0.001% of society saw their incomes grow by an average of 6% per year. Income for the poorest 5% of society fell in real terms.</p>
<p>Given these many issues, it might seem surprising that the debate about “<a href="https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/beyond-gdp-impact/">Beyond GDP</a>” is only now – possibly – turning into actions to change the official statistical framework. But paradoxically, one hurdle has been the proliferation of alternative progress metrics.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-poorer-citizens-pay-the-price-of-economic-change-in-the-uk-172356">How poorer citizens pay the price of economic change in the UK</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Whether these are single indices that combine a number of different indicators or dashboards showcasing a wide range of metrics, they have been ad hoc and too varied to build consensus around a new global way of measuring progress. Few of them provide an economic framework for consideration of trade-offs between the separate indicators, or guidance as to how to interpret indicators moving in different directions. There is a breadth of information but as a call to action, this cannot compete against the clarity of a single GDP statistic.</p>
<p>Statistical measurement is like a technical standard such as voltage in electricity networks or the Highway Code’s rules of the road: a shared standard or definition is essential. While an overwhelming majority might agree on the need to go beyond GDP, there also needs to be enough agreement about what “beyond” actually involves before meaningful progress on how we measure progress can be made.</p>
<h2>Change behaviour, not just what we measure</h2>
<p>There are many <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/search?adapter=pg3&date=all&language=en&page=2&q=beyond+GDP&sort=relevancy">visions to supplant GDP growth</a> as the dominant definition of progress and better lives. In the wake of the COVID pandemic, it has been reported that most people want a <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-after-covid-most-people-dont-want-a-return-to-normal-they-want-a-fairer-more-sustainable-future-173290">fairer, more sustainable future</a>.</p>
<p>Politicians can make it sound straightforward. Writing in 2009, the then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy explained he had convened a commission – led by internationally acclaimed economists Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi – on the measurement of economic performance and social progress on the basis of a firm belief: that we will not change our behaviour “unless we change the ways we measure our economic performance”.</p>
<p>Sarkozy also committed to encouraging other countries and international organisations to follow the example of France in implementing <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/8131721/8131772/Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Commission-report.pdf">his commission’s recommendations</a> for a suite of measures beyond GDP. The ambition was no less than the construction of a new global economic, social and environmental order.</p>
<p>In 2010, the recently-elected UK prime minister, David Cameron, launched a programme to implement the Sarkozy commission’s recommendations in the UK. He described this as starting to measure progress as a country “not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving – not just by our standard of living, but by our quality of life”.</p>
<p>Once again, the emphasis was on measurement (how far have we got?) rather than behaviour change (what should people do differently?). The implication is that changing what we measure necessarily leads to different behaviours – but the relationship is not that simple. Measures and measurers exist in political and social spheres, not as absolute facts and neutral agents to be accepted by all.</p>
<p>This should not dissuade statisticians from developing new measures, but it should prompt them to engage with all who might be affected – not just those in public policy, commerce or industry. The point after all is to change behaviour, not just to change the measures.</p>
<p>Economists are increasingly adopting complex systems thinking, including both social and psychological understandings of human behaviour. For example, <a href="https://www.economist.com/letters/2017/09/14/letters-to-the-editor">Jonathan Michie</a> has pointed to ethical and cultural values, as well as public policy and the market economy, as the big influences on behaviour. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3548365">Katharina Lima di Miranda and Dennis Snower</a> have highlighted social solidarity, individual agency and concern for the environment alongside the “traditional” economic incentives captured by GDP.</p>
<h2>GDP alternatives in practice</h2>
<p>Since Kennedy’s 1968 critique, there have been numerous initiatives to replace, augment or complement GDP over the years. Many dozens of indicators have been devised and implemented at local, national and international scales.</p>
<p>Some aim to account more directly for subjective wellbeing, for example by measuring self-reported life satisfaction or “happiness”. Some hope to reflect more accurately the state of our natural or social assets by developing adjusted monetary and non-monetary measures of “<a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/10/27/global-wealth-has-grown-but-at-the-expense-of-future-prosperity-world-bank">inclusive wealth</a>” (including a team at the University of Cambridge led by this article’s co-author Diane Coyle). The UK government has accepted this as a meaningful approach to measurement in several recent policy documents, including its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-the-united-kingdom">Levelling Up white paper</a>.</p>
<p>There are two fundamental arguments for a wealth-based approach:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>It embeds consideration for sustainability in the valuing of all assets: their value today depends on the entire future flow of services they make available. This is exactly why stockmarket prices can fall or rise suddenly, when expectations about the future change. Similarly, the prices at which assets such as natural resources or the climate are valued are not just market prices; the true “accounting prices” include social costs and externalities.</p></li>
<li><p>It also introduces several dimensions of progress, and flags up the correlations between them. Inclusive wealth includes produced, natural and human capital, and also intangible and social or organisational capital. Using a comprehensive wealth balance sheet to inform decisions could contribute to making better use of resources – for example, by considering the close links between sustaining natural assets and the social and human capital context of people living in areas where those assets are under threat.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Other initiatives aim to capture the multi-dimensional nature of social progress by compiling a dashboard of indicators – often measured in non-monetary terms – each of which attempts to track some aspect of what matters to society.</p>
<p>New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/higher-living-standards/our-living-standards-framework">Living Standards Framework</a> is the best-known example of this dashboard approach. Dating back to a 1988 Royal Commission on Social Policy and developed over more than a decade within the New Zealand Treasury, this framework was precipitated by the need to do something about the discrepancy between what GDP can reflect and the ultimate aim of the Treasury: to make life better for people in New Zealand.</p>
<p>The NZ Treasury now uses it to allocate fiscal budgets in a manner consistent with the identified needs of the country in relation to social and environmental progress. The relevance to combating climate change is particularly clear: if government spending and investment are focused on narrow measures of economic output, there is every possibility that the deep decarbonisation needed to achieve a just transition to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/net-zero-carbon-economy-102230">net zero carbon economy</a> will be impossible. Equally, by identifying areas of society with declining wellbeing, such as children’s mental health, it becomes possible to allocate Treasury resources directly to alleviate the problem.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/measuringnationalwellbeing/apr2017">UK’s Measuring National Wellbeing</a> (MNW) programme, directed by Paul Allin (a co-author of this article), was launched in November 2010 as part of a government-led drive to place greater emphasis on wellbeing in national life and business. Much of the emphasis was on the subjective <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/measuringnationalwellbeing/april2020tomarch2021">personal wellbeing measures</a> that the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) continues to collect and publish, and which appear to be increasingly taken up as policy goals (driven in part by the <a href="https://whatworkswellbeing.org/">What Works Centre for Wellbeing</a>).</p>
<p>The MNW team was also charged with addressing the full “beyond GDP” agenda, and undertook a large consultation and engagement exercise to find out what matters to people in the UK. This provided the basis for a <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/measuringnationalwellbeing/internationalcomparisons2019">set of indicators</a> covering ten broad areas which are updated by the ONS from time to time. While these indicators <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/qualityoflifeintheukaugust2022">continue to be published</a>, there is no evidence that they are being used to supplement GDP as the UK’s measure of progress.</p>
<p>Accounting for inequality within a single aggregate index is obviously tricky. But several solutions to this problem exist. One of them, advocated by the Sen-Stiglitz-Fitoussi commission, is to report median rather than mean (or average) values when calculating GDP per head.</p>
<p>Another fascinating possibility is to adjust the aggregate measure using a welfare-based index of inequality, such as the one devised by the late Tony Atkinson. An exercise using the <a href="https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/income-inequality/about/metrics/atkinson-index.html">Atkinson index</a> carried out by Tim Jackson, also a co-author of this article, calculated that the <a href="https://limits2growth.org.uk/publication/aetw_no2/">welfare loss associated with inequality</a> in the UK in 2016 amounted to almost £240 billion – around twice the annual budget of the NHS at that time.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-search-for-an-alternative-to-gdp-to-measure-a-nations-progress-the-new-zealand-experience-118169">The search for an alternative to GDP to measure a nation's progress – the New Zealand experience</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Among the most ambitious attempts to create a single alternative to GDP is a measure which has become known as the <a href="https://oxfordre.com/environmentalscience/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.001.0001/acrefore-9780199389414-e-776">Genuine Progress Indicator</a> (GPI). Proposed initially by economist Herman Daly and theologian John Cobb, GPI attempts to adjust GDP for a range of factors – environmental, social and financial – which are not sufficiently well reflected in GDP itself.</p>
<p>GPI has been used as a progress indicator in the US state of Maryland since 2015. Indeed, a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4894?r=5&s=1">bill introduced to US Congress in July 2021</a> would, if enacted, require the Department of Commerce to publish a US GPI, and to “use both the indicator and GDP for budgetary reporting and economic forecasting”. GPI is also used in <a href="http://www.gpiatlantic.org/">Atlantic Canada</a>, where the process of building and publishing the index forms part of this community’s approach to its development.</p>
<h2>A potential gamechanger?</h2>
<p>In 2021, the UN secretary-general António Guterres concluded his Our Common Agenda <a href="https://www.un.org/en/content/common-agenda-report/assets/pdf/Common_Agenda_Report_English.pdf">report</a> with a call for action. “We must urgently find measures of progress that complement GDP, as we were tasked to do by 2030 in target 17.19 of the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda">Sustainable Development Goals</a>.” He repeated this demand in his <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2022-01-21/remarks-general-assembly-his-priorities-for-2022">priorities for 2022</a> speech to the UN General Assembly.</p>
<p>Guterres called for a process “to bring together member states, international financial institutions and statistical, science and policy experts to identify a complement or complements to GDP that will measure inclusive and sustainable growth and prosperity, building on the work of the Statistical Commission”.</p>
<p>The first manual explaining the UN’s system of national accounts was published in 1953. It has since been through five revisions (the last in 2008) designed to catch up with developments in the economy and financial markets, as well as to meet user needs across the world for a wider spread of information.</p>
<p><a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/Towards2025.asp">The next SNA revision</a> is currently in development, led by the UN Statistics Division and mainly involving national statistical offices, <a href="https://www.escoe.ac.uk/programmes/national-accounts-and-beyond-gdp/">other statistical experts</a> and institutional stakeholders such as the IMF, World Bank and Eurostat.</p>
<p>But unlike the UN’s COP processes relating to climate change and, to a lesser extent, biodiversity, there has, to date, been little wider engagement with interested parties – from business leaders and political parties to civil society, non-governmental organisations and the general public.</p>
<p>As the British science writer <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000ynb8">Ehsan Masood</a> has observed, this revision process is happening below the radar of most people who are not currently users of national accounts. And this means many very useful ideas that could be being fed in are going unheard by those who will ultimately make decisions about how nations measure their progress in the future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-uks-treasured-free-market-economy-will-not-achieve-net-zero-180922">Why UK's 'treasured free-market economy' will not achieve net zero</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The essence of sustainable development was captured in the 1987 <a href="https://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd15/media/backgrounder_brundtland.pdf">Brundtland Report</a>: “To contribute to the welfare and wellbeing of the current generation, without compromising the potential of future generations for a better quality of life.” Yet it remains unclear how the next SNA revision will provide such an intergenerational lens, despite a new focus on “missing” capitals including natural capital.</p>
<p>Similarly, while the revision programme is addressing globalisation issues, these are only about global production and trade – not, for example, the impacts of national economies on the environment and wellbeing of other countries and populations.</p>
<p>Ambitious deadlines have been set further into the future: achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and reducing global net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero before 2050. The SNA revision process – which will see a new system of national accounts agreed in 2023 and enacted from 2025 – is a key step in achieving these longer-term goals. That is why opening up this revision process to wider debate and scrutiny is so important.</p>
<h2>It’s time to abandon this ‘GDP fetish’</h2>
<p>One lesson to learn from the history of indicators, such as those about poverty and social exclusion, is that their impact and effectiveness depends not only on their technical robustness and their fitness for purpose, but also on the political and social context – what are the needs of the time, and the prevailing climate of ideas?</p>
<p>The current SNA revision should be a process as much about the use and usefulness of new measures as about their methodological rigour. Indeed, we might go as far as <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e3b356b4-dbcc-42ef-811d-74d649139916">Gus O’Donnell</a>, the former UK cabinet secretary, who said in 2020: “Of course measurement is hard. But roughly measuring the right concepts is a better way to make policy choices than using more precise measures of the wrong concepts.”</p>
<p>In short, there is an inherent tension involved in constructing an alternative to GDP – namely achieving a balance between technical robustness and social resonance. The complexity of a dashboard of indicators such as New Zealand’s Living Standards Framework is both an advantage in terms of meaningfulness, and a disadvantage in terms of communicability. In contrast, the simplicity of a single measure of progress such as the Genuine Progress Indicator – or, indeed, GDP – is both an advantage in terms of communication, and a disadvantage in terms of its inability to provide a more nuanced picture of progress.</p>
<p>Ultimately, a plurality of indicators is probably essential in navigating a pathway towards a sustainable prosperity that takes full account of individual and societal wellbeing. Having a wider range of measures should allow for more diverse narratives of progress.</p>
<p>Some momentum in the current SNA revisions process and ongoing statistical research is directed toward measurement of inclusive wealth – building on the economics of sustainability brought together in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">Partha Dasgupta’s recent review of the economics of biodiversity</a>. This framework can probably gain a broad consensus among economists and statisticians, and is already being implemented by the UN, starting with natural capital and environmental accounting.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nature-how-do-you-put-a-price-on-something-that-has-infinite-worth-154704">Nature: how do you put a price on something that has infinite worth?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Including wellbeing measures in the mix would signal that wellbeing matters, at least to some of us, while also recognising that many different things can affect wellbeing. The evidence to date is that planting wellbeing measures in a different part of the data ecosystem means they will be overlooked or ignored. Wellbeing measures are not a panacea, but without them we will continue to do things that restrict rather than enhance wellbeing and fail to recognise the potential economic, social and environmental benefits that a wellbeing focus should bring.</p>
<p>The task of updating the statistical framework to measure economic progress better is non-trivial. The development of the SNA and its spread to many countries took years or even decades. New data collection methodologies should be able to speed things up now – but the first step in getting political buy-in to a better framework for the measurement of progress is an agreement about what to move to.</p>
<p>National accounting needs what the name suggests: an internally-consistent, exhaustive and mutually exclusive set of definitions and classifications. A new framework will require collecting different source data, and therefore changing the processes embedded in national statistical offices. It will need to incorporate recent changes in the economy due to digitalisation, as well as the long-standing issues such as inadequate measurement of environmental change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Politician surrounded by children in a street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479656/original/file-20220817-1692-564oum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘That which makes life worthwhile’: Robert Kennedy visits a summer reading programme in Harlem, 1963.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-attorney-general-robert-kennedy-surrounded-by-african-american-children-50061032.html?imageid=DDD82FF2-5A5A-4E7C-82DC-5E56884212EA&p=167342&pn=1&searchId=0c74a3c5497b7d923e9264b334f535ea&searchtype=0">Alamy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, this “beyond GDP” process needs to grapple not only with measurement problems but also with the various uses and abuses to which GDP has been put. Kennedy’s neat summary that it measures “everything except that which makes life worthwhile” points as much to the misuse of GDP as to its statistical limitations. Its elegance in being simultaneously a measure of income, spending and output means that in some form, it is likely to remain a valid tool for macroeconomic analysis. But its use as an unequivocal arbiter of social progress was never appropriate, and probably never will be.</p>
<p>Clearly, the desire to know if society is moving in the right direction remains a legitimate and important goal – perhaps more so now than ever. But in their search for a reliable guide towards social wellbeing, governments, businesses, statisticians, climate scientists and all other interested parties must abandon once and for all what the Nobel Laureate Stiglitz called a “GDP fetish”, and work with civil society, the media and the public to establish a more effective framework for measuring progress.</p>
<p><em>*Strictly speaking, Robert Kennedy referred to gross national product (GNP) in his 1968 speech. You can read more about the UN’s Towards the 2025 SNA process <a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/nationalaccount/towards2025.asp">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-exploitation-by-un-peacekeepers-in-drc-fatherless-children-speak-for-first-time-about-the-pain-of-being-abandoned-188248?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers in DRC: fatherless children speak for first time about the pain of being abandoned
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-public-cost-of-private-schools-rising-fees-and-luxury-facilities-raise-questions-about-charitable-status-182060?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status
</a></em></p></li>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Allin is a member of the UK National Statistician's Expert User Advisory Committee and he is the Royal Statistical Society's Honorary Officer for National Statistics. Views expressed in this article are personal do not necessarily represent those of the NSEUAC or the RSS.. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diane Coyle receives funding from the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence and ESRC via the Productivity Institute. She is a member of the UK National Statistician's Expert User Advisory Committee and of the Royal Statistical Society. These are personal views. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Jackson is Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity which receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and Laudes Foundation. CUSP provides the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Limits to Growth. The views expressed here are personal.</span></em></p>Amid the global threats posed by climate change, spiralling energy costs, insecure employment and widening inequality, the need to rethink our notion of progress is now an urgent priority.Paul Allin, Visiting Professor in Statistics, Imperial College LondonDiane Coyle, Professor of Public Policy, University of CambridgeTim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development and Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1804502022-04-07T10:18:51Z2022-04-07T10:18:51ZCost of living crisis: it’s not enough to know how many people are below the poverty line – we need to measure poverty depth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456329/original/file-20220405-22-y2m2cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C22%2C4940%2C3300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/some-change-beggars-paper-cup-1747556105">sladkozaponi / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2021/households-below-average-income-an-analysis-of-the-income-distribution-fye-1995-to-fye-2021">most recent</a> poverty statistics show that poverty rates declined during the first year of the pandemic. But this should offer little comfort to those concerned about the cost of living crisis.</p>
<p>The publication of these figures continues a longstanding trend of official poverty statistics being out of step with the dramatic socioeconomic upheavals affecting lowest income households the most. In part, this is because official poverty figures <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/what-latest-income-and-poverty-stats-could-tell-us-and-what-they-cant">lag more than a year</a> behind the current situation. </p>
<p>The main problem, though, is that the government’s primary measure of poverty is set at a threshold of 60% below median incomes. In practice, anchoring poverty measures to the resources of those in the middle tells us more about what’s going on for average earners than it does about the living standards of those towards the very bottom. To fully understand low-income dynamics and the effectiveness of policy interventions, we need to look beyond the overall numbers below a given threshold and look at how far people are actually falling below the poverty line. </p>
<p>In recent years, research analysts and anti-poverty campaigners have become increasingly <a href="https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2022/01/helen-barnard-poverty-is-spiralling-out-of-control-in-this-country-its-time-for-the-government-to-get-a-grip.html">concerned</a> about the changing severity of financial hardship in <a href="https://www.srpoverty.org/2019/10/16/spain/">high-income countries</a>. But there is little consensus on how to measure or address it. </p>
<h2>How deep does poverty go?</h2>
<p>In the UK, there are at least five measures of deep poverty currently in circulation. Independent organisations such as the <a href="https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk">Social Metrics Commission</a>, <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022">Joseph Rowntree Foundation</a> and <a href="https://cpag.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/report/dragged-deeper-how-families-are-falling-further-and-further-below">Child Poverty Action Group</a> have all adopted slightly different indicators. These capture varying degrees of hardship, with the typical incomes of those in deep poverty changing considerably depending on the measure chosen. </p>
<p>The average disposable income (after housing costs) of someone in poverty, according to the government’s main measure, is around £11,300 a year. But it can be as low as £5,800 a year for someone falling more than 50% below the poverty line. Two people with these respective incomes would both be categorised as “in poverty”, but the nature and severity of the hardship they experience would be radically different. </p>
<p>Depending on the measure chosen, different people are also more likely to be affected. Single people without children and younger adults are both heavily <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2020">over-represented</a> among those experiencing the deepest forms of poverty, highlighting where policy interventions could help reduce severe hardship most effectively.</p>
<p>However you choose to measure it, deep poverty has increased considerably over the last 25 years. Since the mid-1990s, the number of people falling below the poverty line in the UK has increased by 8%. But the number falling more than 50% below this line has jumped by 53% (from 2.6 to 4.1 million people). Over the last decade, those closer to the poverty line have seen their relative incomes improve, while the poorest have seen their incomes <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-social-policy/article/plumbing-the-depths-the-changing-sociodemographic-profile-of-uk-poverty/FC5AC6566CEE16F06D066E5B901BB29C#article">fall the furthest</a>. Women, children, larger families and black people are some of the worst affected by this trend.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A chart showing how many people are in deep poverty over the past 26 years, based on different measures. The highest estimate for 2020 shows nearly 10 million people in deep poverty." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456145/original/file-20220404-12538-1ziypm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are five commonly used measures to determine ‘deep poverty’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Calculations based on Households Below Average Income statistics.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>One-size-fits-all approach ignores poverty depth</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-trouble-with-measuring-poverty/">widespread calls</a> to improve reporting on low incomes, the UK government recently announced that it was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/development-of-a-new-measure-of-poverty-statistical-notice/development-of-a-new-measure-of-poverty-statistical-notice">cancelling</a> the development of a “wider measurement framework covering depth, persistence and lived experience of poverty”. This will also make it harder to target resources where they are most urgently needed in a cost of living crisis.</p>
<p>In the UK, public spending on social security has <a href="https://obr.uk/wtr/welfare-trends-report-march-2021/">steadily grown</a>, reaching around 12% of GDP last year. The fact that this has occurred alongside an increasing depth of poverty underlines a central contradiction of the UK welfare state. As a liberal welfare regime, centred on lower levels of state intervention, the UK is supposed to be focused on a more targeted, means-tested social security ideal – concerned much less with redistribution and more with poverty alleviation for those on low incomes. </p>
<p>However, the UK’s social security system is failing to protect the livelihoods of those who already have the least. <a href="https://www.distantwelfare.co.uk/food-insecurity-report">Food insecurity</a>, <a href="https://www.distantwelfare.co.uk/winter-report">debts and financial strain</a> are widespread among people who claim benefits. That said, the temporary £20 uplift to universal credit and working tax credit was particularly <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/16010">effective</a> in helping some of the lowest income households weather the storm during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Those in deep poverty were <a href="https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/SMC-Poverty-and-Covid-Report.pdf">most likely</a> to be negatively affected by income or job loss during the pandemic. And new <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2021#analysis-of-average-disposable-income">evidence suggests</a> their drop in original income was partially offset by measures such as the £20 uplift. </p>
<p>The ongoing cost of living crisis stands to affect the lowest income households most. Despite this, new policy measures announced (or a lack thereof) in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/spring-statement-2022">spring statement</a> last month are poorly targeted, with only <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-releases/chancellor-prioritises-his-tax-cutting-credentials-over-low-and-middle-income-households-with-2-in-every-3-of-new-support-going-to-the-top-half/">£1 in every £3</a> going to those in the bottom half of the income distribution.</p>
<p>The pandemic showed that a boost to targeted, working-age benefits can make a big difference. If the government does not learn those lessons and introduce policies to support those on the lowest incomes, poverty will deepen for those who already have the least.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Edmiston receives funding from the British Academy and the Wolfson Foundation</span></em></p>Why the government’s main measure of poverty doesn’t tell us much about the lowest-income people.Daniel Edmiston, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578842021-03-28T19:07:03Z2021-03-28T19:07:03ZGrowing up in a rough neighbourhood can shape kids’ brains, so good parenting and schooling is crucial<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391868/original/file-20210325-15-un82sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C1000%2C658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Growing up in a poor or disadvantaged neighbourhood can affect the way adolescents’ brains function, according to our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451902221000859">new research</a>. It can alter the communication between brain regions involved in planning, goal-setting and self-reflection. </p>
<p>These brain changes can have consequences for cognitive function and well-being. But the good news is that we also found positive home and school environments can mitigate some of these negative effects.</p>
<p>A “disadvantaged neighbourhood” is one in which people generally have lower levels of income, employment, and education. Growing up in these conditions can cause stress for children, and is <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/208555">associated with</a> cognitive problems and mental health issues in young people. </p>
<p>We don’t yet know exactly how this link between neighbourhood disadvantage and poor mental outcomes works, but <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627317307493">it is thought</a> that social disadvantage alters the way young people’s brains develop.</p>
<h2>The brain during childhood and adolescence</h2>
<p>During childhood and adolescence, our brains are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nn1099_861">dynamically developing</a>. During this phase of life, we refer to the brain as being particularly “plastic”, meaning it is susceptible to change as a result of experiences. </p>
<p>Exposure to negative or stressful experiences (such as neighbourhood disadvantage) may alter brain development in a way that makes some adolescents less resilient in the future. In particular, exposure to neighbourhood disadvantage may lead to “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25233316/">developmental miswiring</a>” – alterations in communication between different brain regions. Such miswiring is increasingly recognised as playing an important role in mental illness.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/living-with-neighborhood-violence-may-shape-teens-brains-92490">Living with neighborhood violence may shape teens' brains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Neighbourhood disadvantage and the brain</h2>
<p>In our research, we studied more than 7,500 children aged 9-10 years from the <a href="https://abcdstudy.org/">Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study</a>, a large long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. This study features children from schools all over the country, with lots of diversity in race, ethnicity, education, income levels, and living environments. </p>
<p>Using these data, we tested whether neighbourhood disadvantage is associated with changes in the brain’s “resting functional connectivity” in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. </p>
<p>Resting functional connectivity refers to the coordinated activity of different brain regions when someone is resting and thinking of nothing in particular. Even while resting, we typically see synchronised activity between brain regions that usually work together to perform tasks. That is, these brain regions are “functionally connected”.</p>
<p>We found that children who grew up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods had widespread alterations in functional connectivity, in brain regions considered important for learning and memory, planning, goal-setting, self-reflection, sensory processing and language. We quantified neighbourhood disadvantage using an “<a href="https://www.neighborhoodatlas.medicine.wisc.edu/#:%7E:text=About%20the%20Area%20Deprivation%20Index%20(ADI)&text=It%20allows%20for%20rankings%20of,%2C%20employment%2C%20and%20housing%20quality">area deprivation index</a>” — a composite measure of factors including income, employment and education for individuals in a given neighbourhood.</p>
<p>What’s more, 50% of these brain changes were associated with poor cognition and mental health in the children. This suggests that growing up in a tough neighbourhood led to changes in children’s cognitive function and mental health.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Child on hopscotch grid" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C46%2C6243%2C4065&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391859/original/file-20210325-19-6ejxot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A supportive environment can undo much of the impact of childhood stress on brain development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is important to note that because the study was “cross-sectional” (that is, it included only one time point), these inferences about causation are speculative. What’s more, we don’t know what mechanism causes these changes in brain connectivity, and why some brain regions are affected but not others.</p>
<h2>Reducing the effects of neighbourhood disadvantage</h2>
<p>As part of the ABCD Study, children and parents also completed questionnaires about their living environment. This allowed us to look at whether positive home and school environments can offset some of the negative effects of neighbourhood disadvantage.</p>
<p>Crucially, we found that brain alterations were less pronounced in children who had positive home and school environments. This suggests that good parental support and positive schooling can buffer some of the negative effects of growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. </p>
<p>Parental support comprised of things such as the parent smiling often at the child, supporting the child and making them feel better when they’re upset, discussing the child’s worries with them, and expressing their love for the child. </p>
<p>Positive school environments were characterised by the availability of extracurricular activities, healthy relationships between children and teachers, children feeling safe at school, teachers praising children when they did a good job, schools letting parents know when children did something well, and children having opportunities to contribute to decisions about activities and rules. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teenage-mental-health-how-growing-brains-could-explain-emerging-disorders-154007">Teenage mental health: how growing brains could explain emerging disorders</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The impact of the social environment on brain development during the early years is already widely recognised in early childhood learning. But the impact that parents and teachers might have on the brains of older children and adolescents has been less clear. </p>
<p>Our research shows that parents and teachers continue to be an important source of support for children as they move into adolescence. Although peers start to become important during this transition, parents and teachers play a role in promoting healthy brain development.</p>
<p>While disadvantaged neighbourhoods can negatively affect children’s brain development and well-being, this can be offset by giving children better home and school environments where they feel supported, receive positive feedback, and have opportunities to engage in different activities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Whittle receives funding from NHMRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Divyangana Rakesh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Social disadvantage can cause stress that leads to changes in ‘connectivity’ between brain regions, potentially harming adolescents’ ability to plan, set goals, and self-reflect.Divyangana Rakesh, PhD Candidate, The University of MelbourneSarah Whittle, Associate Professor in Psychiatry, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1439332021-01-14T13:20:07Z2021-01-14T13:20:07ZThe perils of associating ‘white’ with ‘privilege’ in the classroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377214/original/file-20210105-19-1ics54a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=114%2C30%2C4861%2C3116&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When minority groups are exposed to stereotypes that deem them inferior, they often underachieve academically, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girl-looking-at-book-in-library-silhouette-royalty-free-image/EC0956-003?adppopup=true">Terry Vine/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>White privilege – the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/01/16/white-privilege-explained/">social advantage that benefits white people</a> over others simply on account of skin color – has become a racial justice catchphrase. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-origins-of-privilege">Peggy McIntosh</a>, an academic who <a href="https://nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack">originated the term in 1989</a>, described it like this: “An invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was meant to remain oblivious.” </p>
<p>As examples, she highlighted the appearance of being financially reliable, shopping alone without being harassed and seeing representation of her race in history books and the media.</p>
<p>In the wake of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">George Floyd’s death</a>, an increasing number of white Americans agree that <a href="https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2020/6/15/white-republicans-and-independents-are-starting-to-acknowledge-their-privilege-but-will-it-last">white privilege exists</a>. That includes a growing number of Republicans.</p>
<p>Despite the term’s pervasive use, little attention has focused on how it affects victims of racial injustice, particularly young people of color whose identities are still being shaped.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/ritika-goel">scholar of political psychology</a>, I believe that associating “white” with “privilege” can do more harm than good because it reinforces harmful stereotypes. It can make people of color feel that social privilege belongs only to white people.</p>
<p>If racial minorities believe they are perceived as disadvantaged, the stereotype can diminish their academic performance by activating a psychological phenomenon called <a href="https://www.apa.org/research/action/stereotype">stereotype threat</a> – the fear of conforming to a negative stereotype. </p>
<p>That, in turn, induces underperformance on intellectual tasks. And it has also been shown to reduce confidence and heighten anxiety. </p>
<p>Discussions regarding white privilege are not restricted to social media. Increasingly, they are being adopted by <a href="https://guides.usfca.edu/white-privilege-resource-guide">university websites</a> and <a href="https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-privilege.html">racial justice activists</a>. </p>
<p>This phrase can serve as a constant reminder to students of color that society perceives them as being socially inferior and economically disadvantaged by default.</p>
<p>In other words, those using the phrase “white privilege” to address racial inequities may, paradoxically, reinforce white privilege.</p>
<h2>Why does stereotype threat matter?</h2>
<p>Social psychology research shows that when minority groups are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-terrifying-power-of-stereotypes-and-how-to-deal-with-them-101904">exposed to unflattering stereotypes</a> that deem them inferior, they will often underachieve academically.</p>
<p>This happens because stigmatized groups subconsciously experience a fear of confirming the negative stereotype – such as “Black students struggle in college” – according to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-12938-001">research conducted by academics at Stanford University in the 1990s</a>. </p>
<p>This intimidation implies to the stigmatized person that they might not belong in the field where the tested abilities are important. </p>
<p>In the Stanford study, Black students <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/08/thin-ice-stereotype-threat-and-black-college-students/304663/">underperformed compared to white counterparts</a> when told that the test was “diagnostic” – a “genuine test of your verbal abilities and limitations.” </p>
<p>However, when this description was excluded, there was no such detrimental effect on performance. </p>
<p>Even subtle cues can activate this threat to self-image. When students were asked to record their race before the test, Black students performed worse than their white counterparts. </p>
<p>This phenomenon came to be known as stereotype threat. </p>
<p>And it has since been established across <a href="https://doi.org//doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02417.x">several studies</a> to explain the underperformance of stigmatized groups, ranging from non-Asian ethnic minorities to women in quantitative fields in which math skills are important. </p>
<h2>‘Privilege’ conflates race with class</h2>
<p>With the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117706783">pervasive use of “white privilege” on social media</a>, race is more strongly associated with privilege and its connotations about socioeconomic class – that people who are privileged must be wealthy. This implies that people of color are typically poor. </p>
<p>That means students of color not only have to deal with stereotype threat associated with race but with class as well. And being perceived as poor and disadvantaged in the classroom can be detrimental to academic achievement. </p>
<p>Scholars at Princeton University and the University of Milano-Bicocca have found that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X17300477">class stereotypes perpetuate academic and societal inequality</a> in several ways. </p>
<p>People <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070589">attribute well-being, health and intelligence</a> to people with high socioeconomic status, regardless of their own. Wealthy people are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12208">stereotyped as more competent</a> than poor people.</p>
<p>Experimental studies further confirm that when children from lower-income families are reminded of their socioeconomic status – by reporting parental income or occupation before taking a test – they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167298246003">underperform on tests</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377261/original/file-20210105-23-ehqe5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A Stanford University study found that Black students underperformed compared to their white counterparts when asked to record their race before a test.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teacher-going-over-exam-instructions-royalty-free-image/523434486?adppopup=true">Will & Deni McIntyre/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>And that has negative consequences for their self-confidence and anxiety.</p>
<p>Ironically, a term created for racial justice awareness may perpetuate disadvantages already faced by students of color in academic, economic and social settings. </p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/ZZuucE4R65Q">An exercise conducted by Kanakuk Link Year</a> – a Christian program for post-high school students – offers a good example.</p>
<p>In the exercise, an instructor asks a group of teens to participate in a race for US$100. Before starting, he asks participants to take several steps forward if they meet the criteria of privilege, such as having a father figure at home or access to a private education. </p>
<p>At the end of the exercise, Black students found themselves standing at the back of the queue. The instructor then says that, only because they had that big head start, those standing ahead “would possibly win in the race called life…If it was a fair race, I guarantee you some of these Black dudes would smoke all of you.”</p>
<p>Even if the outcome is criticized as unfair, being Black is conflated with reduced privilege on account of economic status. Poor outcomes on account of reduced privilege are taken almost as a given. </p>
<p>Academics argue that such an exercise can do <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/as-a-video-about-white-privilege-goes-viral-again-experts-caution-it-could-actually-cause-more-damage-170528763.html">more harm than good</a>. That’s because it stigmatizes people of color instead of challenging institutions that perpetuate inequality. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Stereotyping in the classroom can be as damaging as stereotyping on the streets. Discussions about race should involve thoughtfulness and genuine regard for the social and economic mobility of disadvantaged minorities. </p>
<p>These discussions could focus on unjust institutions that perpetuate socioeconomic inequality, rather than stigmatizing victims.</p>
<p>The protests following George Floyd’s death have triggered a racial reckoning for many Americans. This is the moment to break away from stereotypes rather than toward them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ritika Goel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pointing out the benefits of white privilege has become a racial justice rallying cry, but associating ‘white’ with ‘privilege’ in the classroom can harm academic performance among students of color.Ritika Goel, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1392012020-05-26T04:36:50Z2020-05-26T04:36:50ZThe poorest Australians are twice as likely to die before age 75 as the richest, and the gap is widening<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337308/original/file-20200525-55437-9grjm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C99%2C3008%2C1598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>People living in socially disadvantaged areas and outside major cities are much more likely to die prematurely, our new research shows. The study, <a href="https://www.australianpopulationstudies.org/index.php/aps/article/view/62">published in the journal Australian Population Studies</a>, reveals this gap has widened significantly in recent years, largely because rates of premature death among the least advantaged Australians have stopped improving.</p>
<p>These inequalities were already evident long before the enormous economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. While Australia (unlike the United States and some European nations) has so far avoided widespread deaths due directly to COVID-19, there may well be longer-term health impacts of the pandemic caused by widespread job losses and societal disruption, particularly among the most vulnerable. </p>
<p>This could well have a flow-on effect in terms of poorer health behaviours and access to health care, leading to adverse health outcomes, including a higher risk of death. Indeed, studies predict the pandemic will <a href="https://theconversation.com/rich-and-poor-dont-recover-equally-from-epidemics-rebuilding-fairly-will-be-a-global-challenge-138935">exacerbate these existing health inequalities</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rich-and-poor-dont-recover-equally-from-epidemics-rebuilding-fairly-will-be-a-global-challenge-138935">Rich and poor don't recover equally from epidemics. Rebuilding fairly will be a global challenge</a>
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<p>While the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s death rate will not be known for some time, we know there were already significant inequalities in our society regarding the risk of premature death.</p>
<p>Our research analysed trends in deaths between ages 35 and 74 years from 2006-16. We found people living in the 20% most socio-economically disadvantaged areas are twice as likely to die prematurely than those in the highest 20%. </p>
<p>More worryingly, this gap in death rates between the most and least well-off sectors of the Australian population grew wider between 2011 and 2016. It widened by 26% for females and 14% for males. </p>
<p>These figures would probably be higher still if we measured the socio-economic status of individuals, rather than the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyz191/5579828">area they live in</a>. People living in outer regional, remote and very remote areas have death rates about 40% higher than those in major cities. In 2006, this gap was smaller, at 30%. </p>
<h2>What’s the cause?</h2>
<p>These growing inequalities are the result of recent stagnation of premature death rates in the lowest socioeconomic areas and outside of major cities. In contrast, rates of premature death have continued to decline in the most affluent areas of major cities.</p>
<p>This is not a new trend. A similar pattern of rising inequality in death rates was <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/36/1/157/668875">observed from 1986 to 2002</a>. But this time around there is much slower growth in overall average life expectancy, and a stagnation in <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/210/9/slower-increase-life-expectancy-australia-other-high-income-countries">mortality decline among the most disadvantaged population</a>. </p>
<p>One particular concern is the rapid slowdown in improvements to death rates from cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease and stroke. These are Australia’s leading causes of death, and largely explain the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-abstract/48/6/1815/5543462?redirectedFrom=fulltext">significant gains in life expectancy</a> in Australia and other high-income countries over the past few decades. Our results suggest these gains may now be drying up among Australia’s most disadvantaged people.</p>
<p>The socio-economic and regional inequalities in rates of early death are likely due to a wide range of factors. Smoking, poor diet and excessive alcohol consumption are more prevalent in lower socioeconomic groups and outside major cities, and are likely to be major contributors to the trend. People in the lowest 20% socio-economically are <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-overview/australias-health/overview">almost three times more likely to smoke</a> than those in the highest 20%. </p>
<p>The higher rates of premature death outside major cities are also likely to be linked to differences in access to essential health care. People aged 45 years and over and living outside major cities are <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/rural-remote-australians/survey-health-care-selected-findings-rural-remote/contents/summary">less likely to have a GP or specialist nearby</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waiting-for-action-on-access-to-gps-in-rural-australia-18471">Waiting for action on access to GPs in rural Australia</a>
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<p>While Australia’s public health leaders are rightly focused on controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, they should not ignore the wide and growing health inequalities that were already entrenched in our society. </p>
<p>Reducing this widening gap in rates of premature death will require a major policy effort. We need to understand and improve the many factors involved – including smoking, diet and alcohol use, education, employment, housing, and access to health care. </p>
<p>We need to ensure policies and information campaigns are targeted to the population groups where death rates are highest and improvements have been slowest. Without a comprehensive approach, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely turn this widening gap into a chasm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Adair receives funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Lopez receives funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative. </span></em></p>There is a large and widening gap between the richest and poorest Australians in terms of risk of dying before the age of 75, according to a study tracking the trend from 2006-16.Tim Adair, Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneAlan Lopez, Professor of Global Health, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1336082020-03-18T12:07:32Z2020-03-18T12:07:32ZThe digital divide leaves millions at a disadvantage during the coronavirus pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320870/original/file-20200316-27664-magtd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C1597%2C1192&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Slow or unreliable internet access is a reality for millions of Americans.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/noii/2327713880/">ben dalton/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321150/original/file-20200317-60937-o5j3gl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Amidst the flurry of social media updates about the COVID-19 pandemic, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-curve-mitigation-infection.html">chart illustrating the importance of flattening the curve</a> has gone viral. The idea is that taking measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 lowers the chances of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/europe/12italy-coronavirus-health-care.html">overwhelming hospitals</a> and increases the chances that all of those who become ill will have access to treatment. The logic behind flattening the COVID-19 curve is intuitive – don’t panic, but be careful.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the internet is playing a critical role in getting the word out to be careful and to help flatten the COVID-19 curve. Websites that present government data are giving people a sense of <a href="https://www.state.nj.us/health/cd/topics/covid2019_dashboard.shtml">where cases are concentrated</a>, and numerous other websites list numbers to call, symptoms to check for and tips for prevention. Increasingly <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/814974088/the-coronavirus-outbreak-and-the-challenges-of-online-only-classes">universities are shifting courses online</a>, businesses are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-creating-huge-stressful-experiment-working-home/607945/">asking employees to work from home</a> and <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/03/11/how-the-coronavirus-outbreak-is-testing-amazon-del.aspx">shoppers are ordering groceries online</a> to minimize time in crowded spaces. </p>
<p>While the internet is an important resource in efforts to stay informed and proceed with daily lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, these online approaches to reducing risk are not available to everyone in the same way. As the Federal Communications Commission reports, <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/2019-broadband-deployment-report">more than 24 million Americans have no access to broadband internet</a>, while the Pew Charitable Trusts projects <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2019/12/bri_how_state_policy_shapes_broadband_deployment_v3.pdf">163 million Americans lack access to reliable broadband internet connections</a>. </p>
<p>This digital divide falls along existing lines of socioeconomic inequality – those who are poorer and live in less affluent areas <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/why-rural-areas-cant-catch-a-break-on-speedy-broadband/">pay more for less reliable service</a>. And while <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/">smartphones are more prevalent across all socioeconomic groups</a>, they’re a poor alternative for broadband internet access for tasks like working from home or attending classes online. </p>
<p>The digital divide leaves some of the most vulnerable Americans – a significant proportion of the 163 million who lack access to a reliable broadband internet connection – at a significant disadvantage when it comes to accessing the real-time information people need to respond to COVID-19. This is a problem not only for people without broadband access, but also for society as a whole as we struggle to flatten the COVID-19 curve. </p>
<p>There will be many important lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. A less obvious, yet nonetheless important, lesson is that the digital divide is complicating efforts to respond to the challenges society faces. Indeed, a poignant lesson from this pandemic is that finding ways to bridge the digital divide is quickly becoming a matter of life and death. </p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the name of the Pew Charitable Trusts.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133608/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Porumbescu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing people to study and work online. It’s also sparked a need for news and information. That’s a challenge for the 24 million Americans who lack broadband internet access.Gregory Porumbescu, Assistant Professor at the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1208702019-09-30T12:39:10Z2019-09-30T12:39:10ZYoung South Africans upbeat despite broken promises and poor odds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294521/original/file-20190927-185394-8m6awx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young people are balancing several responsibilities - they're school-goers, job seekers or employees, caregivers, friends and community members. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is no doubt that young people in South Africa face a myriad of problems: <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2019.pdf">high unemployment</a>, <a href="http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/367/Child_Gauge/South_African_Child_Gauge_2015/Child_Gauge_2015-Schooling.pdf">poor educational outcomes</a>, <a href="http://opensaldru.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11090/818/2016_169_Saldruwp.pdf?sequence=3">various forms of poverty</a>, and <a href="http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/367/Child_Gauge/South_African_Child_Gauge_2015/Child_Gauge_2015-Health.pdf">less than ideal mental and physical health</a>, including high rates of HIV. </p>
<p>Young people are also often characterised as being <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-shows-young-south-africans-have-no-faith-in-democracy-and-politicians-118404">politically apathetic</a>, lazy, and engaged in general unrest. Young South Africans – aged between 15 to 34 years – constitute <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=12362">almost a third</a> of the South African population. But where are the voices of the youth themselves? </p>
<p>We have updated <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Youth%20Transition%20in%20SA%20communities_new%20colour_print.pdf">research</a> we conducted four years ago in an attempt to answer the question. We wanted to understand what young people’s views were about their own lives and their communities 25 years since democracy. </p>
<p>We focused on what the youth felt about themselves, their communities, their plans for the future, and the mechanisms that either help or hinder them as they transition into young adulthood. We compared this with the views of young people who participated in a similar study in the mid-1990s documented in the book “<a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=OXwzAQAAIAAJ&q=My+Life+in+the+new+South+Africa:+A+youth+perspective&dq=My+Life+in+the+new+South+Africa:+A+youth+perspective&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_tIqzh_TjAhX0oXEKHd2jBiUQ6AEIOzAD">My life in the new South Africa: A youth perspective</a>”. </p>
<p>Our main finding was that, despite the unfulfilled promises of the democratic era to alleviate unemployment and poverty, they retain hope for a positive future. The views of contemporary young people were surprisingly similar to those of youth in the mid-1990s who were absorbed by the sense of possibility that the democratic era offered. </p>
<p>However, we did also note that they were very cynical about political leaders of today, while youth of the mid-1990s were enamoured with the inspirational leadership of President Nelson Mandela. </p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>In our study we prioritised the voices of young people. We focused on the lives of urban and rural youth in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. Eighty-seven young people aged between 15 to 21 from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and education levels were selected for active and open conversation through focus group discussions.</p>
<p>The findings from this study were compared to those of young people who entered a letter writing competition in the 1990s. The letters were analysed and composed into the above mentioned book. The themes about daily life activities, relationships, and future expectations were similar across both studies, allowing us an opportunity to compare the outlooks of these two generations of young people. </p>
<p>Part of our research explored how young people’s current realities and contexts influenced the way they envisioned their futures. Discussions about their daily activities provided insight into their contexts. </p>
<p>Importantly, young people revealed the variety of responsibilities and roles they strove to balance - they were school-goers, employees or work-seekers, friends, caregivers, and members of households with responsibilities. This was indeed experienced by youth in the 1990s too.</p>
<p>King Williams Town (Eastern Cape) focus group: </p>
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<p>I wake up and wash the school uniform I wore yesterday, clean the house.</p>
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<p>Kensington (Gauteng) focus group: </p>
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<p>You cook first then you do dishes.</p>
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<p>Mkhanda (Eastern Cape) focus group:</p>
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<p>I wake up and make coffee for my granny and thereafter cook porridge, clean the house and do my washing.</p>
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<p>This demonstrates that, contrary to popular discourse, young people are not lazy but rather take seriously their education and their chores. </p>
<p>Engagement in extra-curricluar activities is important in a young person’s development. It assists in gaining experience, trying out new skills, and facilitating personal development and identity formation. Encouragingly, many of the participants mentioned a range of cultural and sporting activities as being important to them. Soccer and netball, church choir, and volunteer activities emerged as important activities for them. </p>
<p>This was not dissimilar to the experiences of young people in the 1990s. It was true even in poor areas, where church played a particularly important role. What was new for the contemporary group was access to shopping malls and mobile phones, which facilitated important peer engagements. </p>
<h2>Dreams and aspirations</h2>
<p>The participants studied had positive dreams and aspirations for themselves - a finding confirmed in a number of other studies on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-Freedom-Post-Apartheid-Generation-Democratic/dp/0807007463">young</a> <a href="http://repository.hsrc.ac.za/handle/20.500.11910/4211">lives</a> in South Africa. They all expressed a desire to study further and improve their lives. Across all focus groups, from King Williams Town to Soweto and Orange Farm, most participants aspired for professional jobs such as being a lawyer, journalist, cardiologist, veterinarian or pilot. </p>
<p>There were also those who wanted to be police officers or social workers. These jobs are associated with the perception of stability but also reveal a desire to help their communities and support their households. </p>
<p>Importantly, only a few participants were drawn to the idea of entrepreneurship and had creative ideas of what businesses to start.</p>
<p>These aspirations were very similar to those of young people in the 1990s, albeit with more variety in job choice. A clear distinction between the two generations is that youth of the 1990s saw potential in an improved education system and expanded economic opportunity – the promises of the government of the day. </p>
<p>Comparatively the contemporary group were far more cynical and very aware of the immense challenges of youth unemployment, poor quality education, lack of career guidance, financial constraints to studying further, and poor political leadership. They reflected a real sense of being let down. </p>
<p>Despite this, most of the young people we interviewed retained a positive sense of future. Arguably this could be a way of coping with the reality of very limited opportunities for themselves - what others have referred to as the “<a href="http://www.sharleneswartz.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/13-Swartz-et-al-2012-Ikasi-style-and-the-quiet-violence-of-dreams.pdf">quiet violence of dreams</a>”. </p>
<h2>Understanding and supporting young people</h2>
<p>Popular discourses about young people are often very negative and dismissive. Our research reveals how young people engage in their households and communities in positive ways and simply wish for opportunities to make something of their lives. </p>
<p>Their aspirations are no different from those of the youth generation of the newly minted democratic South Africa. Yet they have been enormously let down by poor quality education, persistent inequality and poverty, and structural unemployment. Continued support for young people – spaces where they are valued and feel they belong and where they can be supported on pathways to achieving goals – is crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Graham receives funding from the National Research Foundation. This research was supported by the University of Johannesburg's Research Committee and funding from a National Research Foundation grant held by Prof Valerie Moller, Honorary Professor at the Institute for Socio-Economic Research at Rhodes University.
Lauren is a member of the International Consortium for Social Development and the Human Development and Capabilities Association. </span></em></p>Although cynical about today’s political leaders, the views of young South Africans are surprisingly similar to those of the mid-1990s.Lauren Graham, Associate professor at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184662019-06-13T12:51:46Z2019-06-13T12:51:46ZRamaphosa’s critical choices to get South Africa back on track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278903/original/file-20190611-32327-ae03gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa has seen a steady rise in the number of protests </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s economy is in dire straits. Unemployment has reached a 15-year high of <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/just-in-unemployment-rate-rises-to-276-in-first-quarter-of-2019-20190514">27.6%</a>. And in the first quarter of this year GDP growth dropped by 3.2%. That’s the <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/breaking-sa-gdp-falls-by-32-biggest-drop-in-10-years-20190604">biggest quarterly drop</a> in a decade. </p>
<p>Considered in conjunction with the country’s dismal education outcomes, which the IMF found are perpetuating inequality and contributing to the country’s <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/03/01/Struggling-to-Make-the-Grade-A-Review-of-the-Causes-and-Consequences-of-the-Weak-Outcomes-of-46644">low economic growth</a>, and the possibility of a ratings downgrade, the outlook isn’t auspicious.</p>
<p>Academics and political leaders have long warned that a combination of high youth unemployment, poor educational outcomes, and high inequality levels will eventually explode into large-scale <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4035809.stm">social disorder</a>. There has indeed been a steady rise in the number of <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1991-38772018000100004">protests</a>. The country is now classified as a <a href="https://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/fragile-states-index-2019-sa-in-the-warning-zone">fragile state</a> by Corruption Watch. </p>
<p>However, the recent elections provide two interesting pointers. The first was the extremely <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-voter-turnout-a-mathematician-runs-the-numbers-117199">low voter turnout</a> of just 49%. The second was a near doubling of the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) share of the vote, from 6.4% in the 2014 poll to 10.8% in 2019. Taken together, these factors suggest that South Africa’s vulnerable citizens are frustrated with the established political parties. However, they are not as yet widely attracted to the potential re-distributive policies of <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/05/18/south-africas-election-results-reflect-widespread-disillusion">populists</a>. </p>
<p>This raises a question. If South Africa’s political and socioeconomic stability are so fractured, how has the country managed to defuse the ‘ticking time-bomb’ for so long?</p>
<h2>Balancing act</h2>
<p>According to economists <a href="https://economics.mit.edu/faculty/acemoglu">Daron Acemoglu</a> and <a href="https://harris.uchicago.edu/directory/james-robinson">James Robinson</a>, the democratic system attempts to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/economics/public-economics-and-public-policy/economic-origins-dictatorship-and-democracy?format=HB&isbn=9780521855266">balance</a> two forces. The revolutionary redistributive pressure of the citizens on the one side, against the repressive power of the elites on the other. But high levels of inequality interfere with democratic consolidation and make revolutionary change more attractive. For self-preservation reasons, elites must stomach high tax rates, or land and capital redistribution.</p>
<p>In the first decade of democracy in South Africa, the country followed a path of financial and trade liberalisation as it re-engaged with the global economy. The relatively strong economic performance then enabled government to placate the formerly disenfranchised through redistributive policies. The key ones were black economic <a href="http://www.dti.gov.za/economic_empowerment/bee.jsp">empowerment</a> and <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/everything-you-need-know-about-social-grants_820/">social grants</a>. This was underpinned by an effective tax system. </p>
<h2>Under pressure</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, the ability to balance the insider-outsider economy with social support was then significantly rocked by two major disruptions. The first was the global financial crisis. The second was the <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/trevor-manuel-why-did-we-tolerate-zumas-misrule-for-so-long-20180518">misrule</a> of <a href="http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/profiles/president-jacob-zuma-0">President Jacob Zuma</a>. </p>
<p>Over the next decade, <a href="https://www.sastatecapture.org.za/">state capture</a> and crony capitalism, coupled with economic decline, weakened the middle class and entrenched meritocracy. In turn this raised pressure for greater re-distributive policies, both among factions of the ANC and eventually with the emergence of the EFF. The dire state of private sector investment and <a href="https://hsf.org.za/publications/focus/focus-82-the-economy/4-viegi-and-dadam.pdf">growth</a> meant that the increased redistributive pressure was initially alleviated by public sector employment creation. This grew from 2.2 million in 2008 to 2.7 million by the end of <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/113488/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sasgovernment-workers/">2014</a>. </p>
<p>But in recent years, as the corrosive effects of corruption took hold, economic decay has become entrenched. This has resulted in declining <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2018/review/Chapter%204.pdf">tax revenues</a> and spiralling <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/moodys-warns-sa-of-indebtedness-that-may-reach-70-ofgdp-21470149">state owned enterprise debt</a>. Political factionalism and policy paralysis have also increased. </p>
<p>Consequently, government no longer has the financial wherewithal to fund the dysfunctional and indebted state-owned enterprises. These enterprises have been associated with the failed developmental state ideology. Weakened government finances have also made it difficult to provide social support via <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/mtbps/2018/mtbps/Annexure%20B.pdf">public sector employment</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, the African National Congress (ANC) has increasingly turned to desperate policy debates such as expropriation of land without compensation, <a href="https://www.oldmutual.co.za/corporate/mindspace/article-detail/prescribed-assets-should-you-be-concerned">prescribed assets</a>, <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/mymoney/moneyweb-tax/implications-of-the-change-to-tax-on-foreign-earnings/">off-shore income taxes</a>, and changing the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.co.za/what-is-quantitative-easing-2019-6">print more money</a>. </p>
<p>To make matters worse, the global economy is experiencing the instability associated with <a href="https://blogs.uoregon.edu/timduyfedwatch/2019/05/31/trade-wars-heats-up-with-new-assault-on-mexico/">trade wars</a> and <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2019/03/28/world-economic-outlook-april-2019">populism</a>. South Africa’s economy will therefore likely continue to perform worse than the slowing global economy. </p>
<h2>Tough choice ahead</h2>
<p>If the country is to survive its current crisis, government will need to undertake two difficult tasks simultaneously. It will need to:</p>
<ul>
<li>refocus on resuscitating inclusive growth by supporting the informal economy and removing red tape for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises,</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/employed-but-still-poor-the-state-of-low-wage-working-poverty-in-south-africa-118018">Employed but still poor: the state of low-wage working poverty in South Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<ul>
<li><p>provide policy <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/ramaphosa-calls-for-anc-policy-certainty-says-ndp-is-our-lodestar-20190609">certainty</a>, </p></li>
<li><p>allow the private sector <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-nhlanhla-nene-debate-addressing-governance-challenges-state-owned-enterprises-ncop">to invest</a> in state-owned enterprises, and </p></li>
<li><p>facilitate the move away from a fossil-fuel based mining economy. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>At the same time, government will also have to free up budgetary resources by <a href="http://www.dpsa.gov.za/dpsa2g/documents/cos/2019/Circular%20and%20Guideline%20on%20Managing%20Early%20Retirement%20without%20penalisation%20of%20pension%20benefits%20in%20terms%20of%20section%2016(6)%20of%20the%20Public%20Service%20Act%201994.pdf">reducing the size</a> of the bloated public sector and withstanding trade union <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Opinion/imf-ratings-agencies-point-to-need-for-tough-choices-20190604">wage demands</a>. </p>
<p>If the inclusion of left-leaning ministers in the <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2019-06-07-anthony-butler-leftists-in-cabinet-likely-to-dabble-in-state-centred-experiments/">new cabinet</a> and the recent contradictory policy statements from <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2019-06-06-anc-speaks-with-forked-tongue-its-time-for-ramaphosa-to-stamp-his-authority-on-the-country/">ANC leaders</a> are a precursor to continued fractional government paralysis, then the country can expect even more economic instability and policy stagnation ahead. </p>
<p>Eventually, this will lead to significant socio-political stress as the private sector disengages and disinvests. The public sector will collapse under its own weight, and disenfranchised citizens will clutch at populist straw men.</p>
<p>Given the dysfunctional state of the <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-12-16-zuma-conference-must-decide-the-tripartite-alliances-future">ANC alliance</a> and the over-arching quest for ‘unity’, it is apparent that President Cyril Ramaphosa must make a choice between saving the ANC alliance or saving the country. He can’t save both. Let’s hope he chooses wisely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Gossel receives funding from UCT and the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p>If the country is to survive its current crisis, government will need to undertake two difficult tasks simultaneously.Sean Gossel, Associate professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1064362018-11-11T21:00:33Z2018-11-11T21:00:33ZCampaign trail bigots blind to the strengths of marginalized communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245078/original/file-20181112-83576-1e0bjzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite the demonization of marginalized communities by politicians on the campaign trail, research shows they're marked by a profound sense of community, supportive social networks – and resilience. A Toronto Regent Park resident, a boy named Cody, is seen as part of an art installation in this 2008 photo. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Bergeron/fauxreel.ca</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The proliferation of gun violence in Toronto this year prompted troubling responses during the city’s recent mayoral and city council campaigns. </p>
<p>Now dethroned <a href="https://theconversation.com/thugs-is-a-race-code-word-that-fuels-anti-black-racism-100312">city councillor Giorgio Mammoliti publicly dehumanized Toronto’s Jane-Finch neighbourhood</a> this summer, figuratively invoking genocide when he characterized residents of the Jane-Finch community as “cockroaches” who should be sprayed so they’d be forced to “scatter.” </p>
<p>Then there’s Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy, the far-right media personality with documented links to white nationalism who placed an eyebrow-raising <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ominous-third-place-finish-of-a-white-supremacist-in-toronto-104816">third in the mayoral race</a>. </p>
<p>The ever-controversial Goldy built a campaign on the premise that Toronto is in a state of urban decay, a city overrun with gang-related violent crime while police and city officials, supposedly wary of accusations of racism, are reluctant to take “proper” measures to address the crisis. </p>
<p>She went so far as to advocate the return of police carding, a practice whereby law enforcement officers are able to question and investigate racialized citizens without just cause. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1036634226303619072"}"></div></p>
<p>The underlying theme of these political candidates? Racialized, low-income people subscribe to inherently pathological and deficient cultures and, as such, threaten the social order. </p>
<p>Rather than reversing the retreat of the welfare state, providing supports to communities and investing in public housing, the solutions of Mammoliti and Goldy include displacement along with greater surveillance and incarceration of the marginalized. </p>
<h2>Growing up in Toronto’s Regent Park</h2>
<p>As a former Regent Parker, I’m no stranger to such denigration. </p>
<p>Toronto’s Regent Park — <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/regent-park-a-look-back-through-the-years-at-canadas-oldest-social-housing-project/article27612426/">the oldest and largest public housing community in Canada</a> and, like Jane and Finch, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country — is where I was raised in a Caribbean household by a single mother and grandmother in the 1970s and ‘80s. (This, of course, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/article-final-phases-of-regent-park-redevelopment-to-be-open-to-tender/">was pre-gentrification</a>.) </p>
<p>Growing up in such a context certainly had its challenges. Looking back from my current middle-class vantage point, I often wonder how we endured amid the stressors that saturated our lives. </p>
<p>But it wasn’t as bad as folks like Mammoliti would have you believe. </p>
<p>Within that much maligned urban space — framed by Gerrard, Parliament, Shuter and River Streets and located just east of downtown Toronto — there was a near-tangible sense of unity and belonging, the likes of which I have yet to experience since leaving. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244223/original/file-20181107-74763-1eoge3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto’s Regent Park is seen in this 2010 photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Growing up in a community widely portrayed as a haven for crime, violence, drugs and all things socially destructive, the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/a45635">stigmatization and exclusion we endured within the broader society reinforced our communal bond</a>. It felt like us against the outside world. </p>
<p>Our community, where we lived and most of us attended elementary school, was a bunker to which we retreated to escape racial and class oppression. I cultivated some of my deepest and most enduring friendships in Regent Park, and some of the people with whom I grew up remain my closest friends. </p>
<h2>Communal bonds are formed</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.unc.edu/courses/2006fall/educ/645/001/Fordham-Ogbu.pdf">landmark study of low-income African-American youth </a> at a Washington, D.C. inner-city high school, anthropologists Signithia Fordham and John Ogbu found that such young people share a pronounced feeling of “peoplehood.” Communal loyalty is forged:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“…in opposition to the social identity of white Americans because of the way white Americans treat them in economic, political, social, and psychological domains, including white exclusion of these groups from true assimilation.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, a <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/life-at-the-intersection">study of the Jane and Finch community conducted by York University sociologist Carl James </a> illuminates a strong, defensively situated communal identity — a sense of community that transcends ethno-racial differences within the neighbourhood. </p>
<p>The young people endured an educational system that, in many ways, alienated them. Nonetheless, James found that many Jane and Finch youth were determined to achieve success in hopes of, one day, giving back to their community in some capacity. For some, being demonized provided motivational fuel.</p>
<p>My time in Regent Park, specifically the sense of community that characterized the early portion of my life there, stands in sharp contrast with the individualism that pervades my current middle-class milieu. It was a community where a spontaneous visit from a neighbour was welcomed as opposed to being perceived as an invasive nuisance. </p>
<h2>Sources of strength and perseverance</h2>
<p>After leaving the community at age 16 and, years later, completing a PhD, I returned to work for a local youth agency. My continued affiliation with this organization, after becoming a university-based academic, enabled me to conduct research with Regent Park youth.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1048618">findings from this research</a>, conducted with Faisal Islam, echoed themes that marked my own experiences in that neighbourhood as well as that of previous studies, namely a profound communal spirit, supportive social networks, resilience and a resistant consciousness that I later, through engagement with critical academic literature, came to recognize as assets in many ways unique to marginalized young people. </p>
<p>Educational scholar Tara Yosso refers to strengths and assets of marginalized communities as “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1361332052000341006">community cultural wealth</a>,” a concept she developed to counter the inclination of people like Goldy and Mammoliti to pathologize poor and racialized communities as socially and morally defective. </p>
<p>Community cultural wealth, wrote Yosso, refers to “the array of cultural knowledge, skills, abilities and contacts possessed by socially marginalized groups that often go unrecognized and unacknowledged.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244374/original/file-20181107-74769-d67yrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s public school in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood is seen in this 2015 photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Guibord/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I have witnessed people persevere and build productive lives for themselves amid oppressive obstacles. I’ve seen poor single mothers (including my own) find ways to raise their children. I’ve watched kids hold on to noble aspirations despite the odds stacked against them. And I’ve marvelled as residents actively foster an affirming communal identity against a city of Mammolitis and Goldys casting them as inferior and deviant. </p>
<h2>'Socioeconomic purgatory’</h2>
<p>These are people who draw on and cultivate community cultural wealth. I’m a beneficiary of such efforts. </p>
<p>All of this is not to romanticize the value systems of poor communities. Any community relegated to socioeconomic purgatory by oppression and discrimination will develop defensive norms and values that, while in many ways empowering, may also be self-defeating. </p>
<p>People socialized within an oppositional, collectively oriented subculture often experience difficulties navigating a dominant society that prizes individualism and misguidedly assumes equality of opportunity. </p>
<p>I grew up with a number of smart peers who wound up underemployed, in prison or dead. Had these individuals been endowed with class privilege, or the benefit of a school system that was more responsive to their needs, they would likely be university-educated professionals today.</p>
<p>But to dehumanize neighbourhoods like Jane-Finch and Regent Park is to negate the inspiring stories of kinship, love, resourcefulness, activism and fortitude that distinguish these urban spaces. If Mammoliti ever got to experience this, he might just toss away his insect repellent — and perhaps he’d still have a job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106436/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Gosine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows marginalized communities are marked by a profound sense of community, supportive social networks – and resilience.Kevin Gosine, Associate Professor, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/999212018-11-07T11:39:09Z2018-11-07T11:39:09ZWhich country is best to live in? Our calculations say it’s not Norway<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237513/original/file-20180921-129850-e897k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not the U.S., either.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/antique-antique-globe-antique-shop-antique-store-414916/">Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, the United Nations releases <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI">the Human Development Index</a>.</p>
<p>The HDI is like a country’s report card. In a single number, it tells policymakers and citizens how well a country is doing. This year, Norway was at the top of the class, while Niger finished last. </p>
<p>The index first appeared in 1990. Before then, a country’s level of development was measured solely by its economic growth. By taking non-economic dimensions of human well-being into account, the HDI revolutionized the idea of what was meant by countries becoming “more developed.” </p>
<p>The HDI has been wildly successful in <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/celebrating-human-development-success">changing the way people think</a> about the development process. However, it still <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2808029">suffers from</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2012.01.003">real flaws</a>. There have been numerous attempts to do its job better, including <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/padr.12205">one that we published on Nov. 6</a>.</p>
<p>Eliminating the flaws in the HDI make a substantial difference. For example, Denmark was ranked fifth in the world according to this year’s UN rankings, but our new index knocks it down to only 27th, switching places with Spain.</p>
<p><iframe id="2emkU" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2emkU/5/" height="540px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Problems with the HDI</h2>
<p>Human development can be devilishly hard to measure. The HDI considers changes in three domains: economics, education and health. (One alternative to the HDI, <a href="https://www.socialprogress.org/">the Social Progress Index</a>, combines data on 54 domains.)</p>
<p>In our view, the HDI has three main problems. First, it implicitly assumes trade-offs between its components. For example, the HDI measures health using life expectancy at birth and measures economic conditions using GDP per capita. So the same HDI score can be achieved with different combinations of the two. </p>
<p>As a result, the HDI implies a value of an additional year of life in terms of economic output. This value differs according to a country’s level of GDP per capita. Dig into the HDI and you will find whether it assumes an additional year of life is worth more in the U.S. or Canada, more in Germany or France, and more in Norway or Niger. </p>
<p>The HDI also struggles with the accuracy and meaningfulness of the underlying data. Average income could be high in a country, but what if most of it goes to a small elite? The HDI does not distinguish between countries with the same GDP per capita, but different levels of income inequality or between countries based on the quality of education. By focusing on averages, the HDI can obscure important differences in human development. Incorporating inaccurate or incomplete data in an index reduces its usefulness.</p>
<p>Finally, data on different domains may be highly correlated. For example, the GDP per capita and the average level of education in countries are strongly related. Including two highly correlated indicators may provide little additional information compared to just using one.</p>
<h2>Our indicator</h2>
<p>We propose a new index: <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/padr.12205">the Human Life Indicator, or HLI</a>. </p>
<p>The HLI looks at life expectancy at birth, but also takes the inequality in longevity into account. If two countries had the same life expectancy, the country with the higher rate of infant and child deaths would have a lower HLI.</p>
<p><iframe id="r6a6J" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/r6a6J/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>This solves the problem of having contentious trade-offs among its components, because it has only a single component. It solves the problem of inaccurate data, because <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w16572">life expectancy is the most reliable component</a> of the UN’s index. Because GDP per capita, the level of education and life expectancy are closely related to one another, little information is lost by using a human development indicator based only on life expectancy. </p>
<p>Our index draws a different picture than the one made by the HDI. Based on data from 2010 to 2015, Norway is not on top of the list in terms of human development. That honor goes to Hong Kong, while Norway drops to ninth place. Norway ranks highly on the HDI in part because of the revenues that it receives from North Sea oil and gas, but even with that revenue, Norway’s inequality-adjusted life expectancy is not the highest in the world. </p>
<p>What’s more, on our measure, Niger no longer is last. That dubious distinction goes to the Central African Republic.</p>
<p>The UN puts Canada and the U.S. as tied at 10th place, but Canada is ranked 17th in the world using our system, while the U.S. does poorly, ranking as 32nd. This relatively higher ranking of Canada reflects the higher longevity of its inhabitants and the lower inequality in their ages of death compared to people in the U.S.</p>
<p>In our view, the genius of the HDI is too important to give up, just because of problems with its implementation. In our new index, we have provided a simple approach that is free from the problems of the HDI. There is no need to have just one measure of human development, but it is useful to have at least one without contentious flaws.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Warren Sanderson receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No 323947. Project Name: Reassessing Aging from a Population Perspective, Re-Ageing. Warren Sanderson is a senior research scientist at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria and a Professor of Economics, emeritus at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sergei Scherbov receives funding from European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No 323947. Project Name: Reassessing Aging from a Population Perspective, Re-Ageing.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Ghislandi receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No 323947. Project Name: Reassessing Aging from a Population Perspective, Re-Ageing.</span></em></p>Most researchers use the UN’s Human Development Index to measure each country’s progress, but that system has flaws. A new, simplified index aims to do it better.Warren Sanderson, Professor of Economics, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)Sergei Scherbov, Deputy Director of World Population Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)Simone Ghislandi, Associate Professor of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/883712017-12-12T23:15:20Z2017-12-12T23:15:20ZIs your child’s school an obesity risk?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198867/original/file-20171212-9389-mwxdjq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elementary schools provide excellent targets for interventions to prevent obesity as children spend much of their day and consume many of their calories at school.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32129-3/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr">Child obesity rates are skyrocketing</a> globally. Young children spend the lion’s share of their time in school, consuming a large portion of their daily calories there and developing lifelong eating habits and food preferences with their peers.</p>
<p>Do the schools attended by children influence their weight? As a child development researcher interested in child education, health and poverty, I recently had the unique opportunity to work with epidemiologist <a href="http://www.epi.inrs.ca/?page_id=538">Tracie Barnett</a> to examine this question. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo201739">resulting study, published in the International Journal of Obesity</a>, found that schools with the unhealthiest food environments were more likely to be located in disadvantaged communities.</p>
<p>We also found children between the ages of 10 and 12 who attended schools with lower-quality food environments had higher amounts of central body fat (or “central adiposity” in technical terms) after two years than children attending healthier schools. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22437560">Central body fat is fatty tissue that is stored around the waist and abdomen</a>. It poses a greater risk to long-term health than fat stored elsewhere on the body.</p>
<h2>Food environments in schools</h2>
<p>To understand how a school may influence a child’s weight, we analyzed information on 431 elementary school students attending 246 schools. </p>
<p>All schools were located in urban areas of the province of Québec and were followed as part of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21785124">Québec Adipose and Lifestyle and Investigation in Youth</a> (QUALITY) — a larger study investigating the evolution and course of childhood of obesity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198836/original/file-20171212-9389-18et7rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reducing childhood obesity requires understanding the complex genetic, psychological and socio-economic causes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this sample, we studied the proximity and quality of food that students can easily access at school. </p>
<p>We identified three different school types: 1) those with unhealthy food environments inside the school; 2) those with unhealthy food environments inside and surrounding the school; and 3) those with healthy food environments inside and surrounding the schools. </p>
<p>We assessed the healthfulness of the food environment inside a school using interviews with the school principal, who answered questions about the food sold on the premises and the quality of the school menu. </p>
<p>We measured the food environment surrounding a school by the geographical density of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores within walking distance. </p>
<p>Finally, central body fat was <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/1559514">assessed using X-ray technology</a>. This provided us with precise measures of children’s lean and fatty body mass. </p>
<p>Our analyses took into account several potentially confounding factors, including family socioeconomic status and parental weight.</p>
<h2>Reducing child obesity</h2>
<p>A great number of countries — including <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/healthyschools/policy.html">Canada</a>, the <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/healthyschools/policy.html">United States</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/school-meals-healthy-eating-standards%E2%80%8B">the U.K.</a> — have put in place policies to ensure that high-quality foods are offered and sold within elementary and high schools. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, our research suggests considerable inequality exists among the school food environments available to children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198870/original/file-20171212-9410-6o6mgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Percentage of central body fat according to school type attended.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers, health-care practitioners and stakeholders recognize preventing and reducing childhood obesity requires a multi-faceted approach — one that takes into account its biological (e.g. <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5771/279">genetic</a>), psychological (e.g. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3109/17477166.2011.615996/full">stress levels</a>) and social-environmental causes (e.g. the influence of factors such as <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/1/6.long">neighbourhood and poverty</a>). </p>
<p>Even though biological and psychological factors contribute to obesity in important ways, there’s been increasing interest in social and environmental causes. That’s because they can offer cost-effective and modifiable targets for interventions. </p>
<p>Indeed, the school food environment is a particularly attractive target for intervention since the vast majority of children spend so much of their time in school.</p>
<h2>The family context of fitness</h2>
<p>Our study is not without limitations. First, our measurement of the school food environment inside schools was solely based on interviews conducted with school principals. </p>
<p>It is possible their reports were affected by their ability to recall certain details. In addition, principals’ reports could have been biased by their desire to present their schools in a more positive light. </p>
<p>Our findings are also limited by the use of a correlational design. We cannot rule out the possibility that some characteristics of children’s family lives might have determined the type of school they attended and their level of fitness. To reduce that possibility, all of our analyses took into account parents’ education and income, two important determinants of socioeconomic status and health. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198862/original/file-20171212-9426-1hnps6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In schools without a lunch program, children are restricted to food from home, vending machines or food outlets in the vicinity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, our sample was restricted to Caucasian children with one or two obese parents. The risk for developing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12948432">cardiometabolic diseases</a> (including obesity) is considered higher for those with two obese parents than for those with only one. </p>
<p>In order to assess whether our findings applied to a wider population of children, replications with lower-risk youth and ethnically diverse populations are needed.</p>
<h2>Winning the battle against obesity</h2>
<p>There is evidence carefully designed and implemented interventions aimed at improving the food environments in schools <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1479-5868-8-7?site=http://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com">can improve the quality of children’s diets</a>. </p>
<p>Our results suggest the food environments around schools should also become a target for intervention and social policy. </p>
<p>Finally, according to our analyses, schools in disadvantaged communities may have the most difficulty providing healthy foods to their students. </p>
<p>Future research could help identify some of the barriers that prevent schools from implementing successful healthy food policies in order to better support their efforts in the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198815/original/file-20171212-9451-1coa28u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food environments inside schools include cafeterias and vending machines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our best chances for winning the battle against obesity and cardiometabolic disease lie in our ability to implement preventive interventions as early as possible. </p>
<p>We recommend increasing efforts to create healthier food environments in elementary schools where children spend much of their time, consume a large portion of their daily calories and acquire the basis of lifelong eating habits and preferences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Fitzpatrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that children attending schools with low-quality food environments, in poorer neighborhoods, gain more central body fat – putting them at risk of obesity and cardiometabolic disease.Caroline Fitzpatrick, Researcher at Concordia's PERFORM center and Assistant Professor of Psychology, Université Sainte-AnneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/829832017-08-25T04:26:22Z2017-08-25T04:26:22ZWA bathes in sunshine but the poorest households lack solar panels – that needs to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183407/original/file-20170825-2449-284kjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Solar panels are still a rarity in WA's lower-income areas.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Orderinchaos/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Western Australian householders are living in “energy poverty”, according to our new Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre research report, <a href="http://bcec.edu.au/publications/power-to-people-wa-energy-future/">Power to the People: WA’s Energy Future</a>. </p>
<p>Although average household spending on electricity, gas and heating is no more than 4% of income, the figure rises considerably for those on lower incomes. In particular, more than a quarter of single-parent families say they spend more than 10% of their income on energy.</p>
<p>Single parents in particular are far more exposed to energy poverty, a trend that has grown over the past 10 years. Around one in ten of these households spends at least 15% of their income on energy costs. In some cases, this forces them to compromise on other essentials such as food and health care. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-the-east-coast-can-learn-from-wa-about-energy-76398">Five things the east coast can learn from WA about energy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Rising energy costs, as well as a personal commitment to reducing greenhouse gases, are motivating many WA households to vote with their feet (or wallets) and adopt rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels at a dramatic rate. </p>
<p>In WA, the installed capacity of rooftop solar PV has grown by 37% in the past 18 months alone. Around 25% of suitable dwellings are now fitted with solar panels. This takes WA to third place among Australian states, behind Queensland (32%) and South Australia (31%). </p>
<p>If this trend continues, the state’s rooftop solar PV capacity is predicted to exceed 2,000 megawatts by 2022. That’s larger than all but one of WA’s power stations. </p>
<p><strong>Generating capacity from WA rooftop solar, 2016 to 2022</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183293/original/file-20170824-18728-19go9au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Projections are based on predictions from a log linear regression of total MW of rooftop solar PV capacity, and reflect the growth both in the number of installations and the average MW output per solar PV installation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre/Clean Energy Regulator</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similar trends are predicted at a national level, with consumer-bought rooftop solar PV expected to account for around <a href="https://about.bnef.com/new-energy-outlook/">24% of electricity generation by 2040</a>. This is set to make Australia one of the most decentralised electricity networks in the world, with 45% of its total generating capacity coming from “behind the meter”.</p>
<h2>Haves and have-nots</h2>
<p>Rooftop solar is a popular option, but not all households are able to take advantage of this technology. Our report reveals a clear socioeconomic gradient in household solar installations in WA.</p>
<p>Panels are fitted to only 7.4% of suitable homes in areas in the lowest 10% on socioeconomic indicators. That figure rises to 16% in the next-lowest 10%, and the gap widens still further as income rises. Solar installation rates are around 30% in mid-to-high socioeconomic areas. </p>
<p><strong>Share of suitable WA homes with solar panels, by level of socioeconomic disadvantage</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183292/original/file-20170824-18691-4v3z6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Homes deemed suitable for solar PV include detached, semi-detached or terraced houses, but not strata-titled apartments or units.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre/Clean Energy Regulator/ABS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-households-are-locked-out-of-green-energy-unless-governments-help-81987">Better incentives could boost these numbers</a>, especially in poorer areas. The initial upfront costs deter many homeowners, while most landlords have little financial motivation to install solar on rental properties.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/poor-households-are-locked-out-of-green-energy-unless-governments-help-81987">Poor households are locked out of green energy, unless governments help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Accessible, secure and affordable energy is essential to any well-functioning economy. And many citizens, communities and governments are acting on the imperative to move to a greener source. </p>
<p>Despite its huge amounts of wind and sunshine, WA lags behind other states both in committing to a clear renewable energy target and in its investment in large-scale renewable power projects.</p>
<p><strong>Renewable projects under construction or at commissioning stage in 2017</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183291/original/file-20170824-18693-1swa46q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Projects at the commissioning phase at the end of 2016 are not included in the total new capacity figure. Investment in the South Australia Hornsdale Wind Farm includes stages 1, 2 and 3. Data for ACT and NT not available; ACT is expected to draw most of its renewable energy from other states and territories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre/Clean Energy Council Australia/various other sources</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to our report, WA’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 were 86.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – fourth-ranked behind Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. This means WA contributed 16.1% of Australia’s national emissions that year. </p>
<p>But while other states and territories have adopted proactive emissions-reduction policies such as state-based renewable energy targets, WA has not yet taken substantial action on this front. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-solar-panel-and-battery-revolution-how-will-your-state-measure-up-76866">The solar panel and battery revolution: how will your state measure up?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Here’s the likely game-changer: efficient, cost-effective <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/battery-storage-36232">battery storage</a> that can deliver power at the scale required. Storage is set to become vital, both for <a href="https://theconversation.com/slash-australians-power-bills-by-beheading-a-duck-at-night-27234">smoothing out domestic power consumption from solar panels</a> and for large-scale electricity generation. The <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/energy/national-electricity-market-review">Finkel Review</a> has recommended that all future renewable energy projects be required to produce “dispatchable” power – that is, be able to store their power and release it at times of higher demand. </p>
<p>Greater efficiency in balancing energy demand over the course of the day, and across large-scale grid systems that feature a range of different weather conditions, is also likely to help overcome the intermittency problems associated with renewable sources.</p>
<p>Australia is on the cusp of an energy revolution, and the pace of change is only going to increase. WA, like every state, needs a clear roadmap to navigate the journey effectively, one that integrates existing and emerging energy technologies and maintains protections for families who cannot currently afford solar panels. </p>
<p>This will give greater certainty to the energy future we can all expect – and, critically, ensure that no one is left behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Cassells is a Principal Research Fellow with the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre. The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre is an independent economic and social research organisation located within Curtin Business School at Curtin University. The Centre was established in 2012 with support from Bankwest (a division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia) and Curtin University. The views in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the views of Curtin University and/or Bankwest or any of their affiliates.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Duncan is Director of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre. The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre is an independent economic and social research organisation located within Curtin Business School at Curtin University. The Centre was established in 2012 with support from Bankwest (a division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia) and Curtin University. The views in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the views of Curtin University and/or Bankwest or any of their affiliates.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yashar Tarverdi is a Research Fellow at the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre. The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre is an independent economic and social research organisation located within Curtin Business School at Curtin University. The Centre was established in 2012 with support from Bankwest (a division of Commonwealth Bank of Australia) and Curtin University. The views in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the views of Curtin University and/or Bankwest or any of their affiliates.</span></em></p>Western Australia has huge amounts of sunshine and wind, yet only 7% of its energy comes from renewables. What’s more, most households in the poorest suburbs are still locked out of the solar panel boom.Rebecca Cassells, Associate Professor, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin UniversityAlan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and Bankwest Research Chair in Economic Policy, Curtin UniversityYashar Tarverdi, Research fellow, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/826332017-08-21T10:57:05Z2017-08-21T10:57:05ZColleges need affirmative action – but it can be expanded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182642/original/file-20170818-7941-147b9b6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students like Blanca Diaz and LaQuintah Garrett.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Amy Anthony</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2003, <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/306/case.html">Justice Antonin Scalia</a> predicted that the Supreme Court’s sanctioning of race-conscious affirmative action in higher education would spark future litigation for years to come. And right he was. From <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981">defeated claims of discrimination</a> against the University of Texas at Austin to an <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/11/18/law-suit-admissions-alleged-discrimination/">ongoing lawsuit</a> against Harvard, colleges continue to come under attack for considering race as a factor in admissions decisions.</p>
<p>The recent report of the Department of Justice’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html">possible investigation</a> of “intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions” demonstrates that the assaults aren’t likely to end anytime soon.</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/nelson_eboni.php">professor of law and scholar</a> dedicated to ensuring equal educational opportunities for students of color, I believe now is an important time to earnestly consider other methods for diversifying student bodies. Race-neutral alternatives could effectively consider such factors as socioeconomic status and educational background, while supplementing more traditional affirmative action.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182008/original/file-20170814-28487-csunzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lawyer Bert Rein and his client, Abigail Fisher, failed in their discrimination case against UT Austin’s affirmative action policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Race-based’ vs. ‘race-conscious’</h2>
<p>When thinking about affirmative action, it’s important to first define (and debunk) a few key terms, starting with “race-based” and “race-conscious” affirmative action.</p>
<p>“Race-based affirmative action” is a misnomer often used to describe some college admissions policies. “Race-based” implies that an admissions decision is made <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/02/how-affirmative-action-at-colleges-hurts-minority-students/">solely because of or based upon an applicant’s race or ethnicity</a>, which could not be farther from the truth. A university’s decision to admit, deny or waitlist an applicant is based upon <a href="https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/applications/decisions">myriad criteria</a>, ranging from standardized test scores to state of residency. Race is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/college-admissions-how-diversity-factors-in/2012/02/20/gIQAs0BHSR_blog.html">just one of many admissions factors</a> a university may consider.</p>
<p>This approach is more appropriately termed “race-conscious.”</p>
<p>Schools that employ race-conscious admissions policies do so in order to achieve the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40251923">educational, social and democratic benefits</a> of a diverse student body.</p>
<p>As the Supreme Court held in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-516">Gratz v. Bollinger</a>, race is not and cannot be the determining factor under a constitutional race-conscious plan. Therefore, when people claim that an African-American or Hispanic student was admitted because of race, they’re often not only inaccurate but also dismissive of the student’s other numerous attributes that played a role in the university’s decision.</p>
<h2>Race-neutral alternatives</h2>
<p>Opponents of race-conscious affirmative action often assert that such policies are <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/todays-affirmative-action-is-racism-2/">racist</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/affirmative-action-based-on-income/2012/11/08/a519f67e-17e9-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_story.html">disproportionately benefit privileged minority students</a> from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182636/original/file-20170818-7934-p46oz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Justice Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger, which asserted that schools must consider ‘workable race-neutral alternatives.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For its part, the Supreme Court is also skeptical of using <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/11-345.pdf">racial classifications in governmental decision-making</a>. As a result, it has held that institutions of higher education must afford serious consideration to “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-345_l5gm.pdf">workable race-neutral alternatives</a>” before implementing a race-conscious policy.</p>
<p>Importantly, the court’s use of the term “race-neutral” does not mean “race-blind.” That is, universities are permitted to think about how alternative admissions criteria could help them achieve their diversity goals. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-raceneutralreport.html">Race-neutral criteria</a> could include socioeconomic background, high school or undergraduate institution, or class rank. In other words, these are factors that may contribute to a school’s racial diversity, but applicants themselves are not considered based on race.</p>
<p>In some cases, it’s <a href="http://www.uclalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Kidder-D64-update.pdf">proven difficult</a> for race-neutral admissions policies to achieve the same levels of racial diversity as those achieved through direct consideration of race. However, such measures <a href="https://www.universitybusiness.com/article/race-neutral-policies-and-programs-achieving-racial-diversity">have been useful</a> in helping to diversify student bodies when used in conjunction with or in lieu of race-conscious affirmative action.</p>
<h2>The viability of race-neutral alternatives</h2>
<p>When coupled with the stark <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/the-33-whitest-jobs-in-america/281180/">racial disparities</a> that continue to plague some professions, the uncertain future of race-conscious affirmative action calls for a renewed focus on alternatives that look beyond race alone.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182628/original/file-20170818-7952-63e9xt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1109&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TV isn’t the only place where the legal profession remains one of the whitest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">USA Network</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My co-researchers, <a href="http://cosw.sc.edu/faculty/ronald-pitner">Dr. Ronald Pitner</a> and <a href="https://dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/academics/faculty/resident-faculty/carla-pratt">Professor Carla D. Pratt</a>, and I recently took a look at one particular aspect of higher education diversity: law school admissions.</p>
<p>Law schools play a unique role in training <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/2013/12/law-schools-leadership-and-change/">our country’s next generation of leaders</a>. It is, in fact, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2336994">vital to the future of our democracy</a> that we continue to provide students from historically underrepresented racial groups with access to legal education. And yet, the legal profession was recently determined to be “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/27/law-is-the-least-diverse-profession-in-the-nation-and-lawyers-arent-doing-enough-to-change-that">one of the least racially diverse professions in the nation</a>.”</p>
<p>To help law schools improve their diversity, we examined the relationship between race and race-neutral identity factors in law school admissions. The project, which was funded in part by a grant from <a href="https://www.accesslex.org/accesslex-center-legal-education-excellence">AccessLex Institute</a>, surveyed over a thousand first-year law students at schools throughout the country and asked about various aspects of their identity, such as socioeconomic status and educational background.</p>
<p>Our findings indicated that African-American and Hispanic students were <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2849546">significantly more likely</a> than both white and Asian/Pacific Islander students to have qualified for free or reduced lunch programs in elementary or secondary school, had a parent or guardian who received public assistance when the student was a dependent minor, and received a Pell Grant during their undergraduate studies – all of which are race-neutral factors that schools could consider in admissions decisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182641/original/file-20170818-7956-wqrhu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Race-neutral affirmative action can help identify first-generation students and students from low-income families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pat Sullivan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How admissions could change</h2>
<p>Based on the sample of participants in our study, it’s clear that privilege did not catapult all students of color to law school. Many of them had to overcome the structural inequalities of poverty, race and public education to embark on a legal career. Expanding opportunities for these and other minority students will benefit not only legal education and the legal profession, but also society more broadly.</p>
<p>Race-neutral admissions policies could help identify and create opportunities for these students.</p>
<p>To be clear, I do not advocate for the wholesale substitution of traditional race-conscious admissions measures with the factors we studied. Race-conscious policies continue to be the <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/reardon_white_paper.pdf">most effective</a> means by which to create diverse student bodies.</p>
<p>However, we encourage law schools and other institutions of higher education to utilize these and other race-neutral admissions factors as a means of complying with the Supreme Court’s affirmative action mandates and testing the viability of policies that take such factors into account.</p>
<p>Doing so will help ensure that traditionally underrepresented students of color will continue to have access to colleges and universities that serve as gateways to career, financial and life opportunities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eboni Nelson receives funding from AccessLex Institute. </span></em></p>Race-conscious admissions policies are still the best way to achieve diversity on campus. Yet, some race-neutral methods could help colleges improve diversity – and stand up to legal scrutiny.Eboni Nelson, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/753892017-07-03T23:36:33Z2017-07-03T23:36:33ZNew maps reveal cancer levels across Australia, and across the social strata<p>Public health experts traditionally expect to see a very strong pattern of health inequality – the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be unwell and die before your time. But newly available data on cancer incidence rates show that’s not always the case.</p>
<p>Our team at the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) used data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2012 <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/australian-cancer-database/">Australian Cancer Database</a> to <a href="http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/social-health-atlases/maps">map</a> cancer incidence rates across Australia – by state, by socioeconomic status and by remoteness.</p>
<p>We found generally high rates of breast cancers diagnosed for females in the most advantaged areas when compared with more disadvantaged areas. That is, well-off women were more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than their less well-off counterparts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176549/original/file-20170703-32612-1uzyt5v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/cancer-incidence-females.html">PHIDU, using data from AIHW/ACD.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The same pattern emerged for prostate cancers diagnosed in males – the more well-off a man is, the more likely he is to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176551/original/file-20170703-32585-d0ure7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/cancer-incidence-females.html">PHIDU, using data from AIHW/ACD.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the numbers also reveal high rates of lung cancer in the most disadvantaged areas. That was true for both men and women. It seems that the less well-off you are, the more likely you are to be diagnosed with lung cancer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176552/original/file-20170703-32607-p6qd8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lung cancer incidence rates in Australia among women, by income quintile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/cancer-incidence-females.html">PHIDU, using AIHW/ACD data.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176553/original/file-20170703-32603-1k2n74t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lung cancer incidence rates in Australia among men, by income quintile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/cancer-incidence-females.html">PHIDU, using AIHW/ACD data.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lung cancer incidence also increases with remoteness, being 47% higher in the very remote areas of Australia in comparison with the major cities for females and 49% higher for males. On the other hand, there is a 20% lower incidence of breast cancer for women living in areas classified as very remote, when compared with major cities.</p>
<p>Incidence rates for the total cancers are highest in Queensland, driven by very high rates of melanoma of the skin.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176557/original/file-20170703-32591-42u6q3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cancer incidence rates, persons, by area of population health areas. Darkest colours show highest rates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/maps/sha-aust/pha-single-map/atlas.html">PHIDU, using AIHW/ACD data.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Health and wealth</h2>
<p>Our analysis of cancer incidence rates showed a mixed picture when it comes to the link between how well-off you are and how likely you are to receive a cancer diagnosis. But for many other health indicators, the correlation is very strong: the more disadvantaged you are, the more likely you are to have poor health outcomes. </p>
<p>This analysis of other health data reveals that, despite Australia’s enviable health standing in the international arena, there is a substantial health gap between the most advantaged and most disadvantaged Australians. </p>
<p>Some of this gap can be put down to biology and genetics, individual behaviour, health service access, and the physical environment. But a major contributor to the gap is people’s socioeconomic status.</p>
<p>The inequality is evident in <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/risk-factors.html">levels of obesity</a>, <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/chronic-disease.html">diabetes</a>, <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/chronic-disease.html">circulatory diseases</a> and <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/psychological-distress.html">psychological distress</a>. For all of these measures, the problem is greater, and in many cases much greater, among the most disadvantaged.<br>
And there is a striking gap in the rate of premature deaths (less than 75 years of age), whether we look at the <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/maps/sha-aust/lga-single-map/aust/atlas.html">capital cities</a>, or <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/maps/sha-aust/lga-single-map/aust/atlas.html">regional</a> or <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/remoteness/aust/premature-mortality-sex.html">remote</a> Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175979/original/file-20170628-25857-15n10ms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Premature death is much more likely for those who are most disadvantaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles-time-series/aust/files/pixels.php">PHIDU</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is also clear that it is not just a case of a difference between the “haves” and “have nots”. There are more premature deaths at every step across the <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles/aust/premature-mortality-sex.html">social spectrum</a>.</p>
<p>That is, all but the 20% who live in the most socioeconomically advantaged areas have higher death rates. Public health experts call this the “<a href="http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/key_concepts/en/">social gradient in health</a>”.</p>
<p>What is of greatest concern is that we are seeing a widening in the health gap, as seen in a comparison of <a href="http://www.phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/graphs/sha-aust/quintiles-time-series/aust/premature-mortality-sex.html">premature mortality over time</a>.</p>
<p>Yes, there have been substantial reductions in the rates of early death overall, with rates down by 50% in 2014 when compared with 1987. However, this significant reduction was not shared by all.</p>
<p>The reduction in early deaths was lower for those living in the most disadvantaged areas when compared withe the most well-off areas. In fact, the gap in rates between these population groups has increased, and increased substantially. </p>
<p>The data show us that in 1987 there were 42% more deaths in the most disadvantaged areas compared to the least disadvantaged; by 2013, rates were 76% higher among the most disadvantaged. </p>
<p>Put another way, the current (2013) rate in the most disadvantaged areas, of 256 premature deaths per 100,000 population, was surpassed for those living in the most well-off areas in 1997. </p>
<h2>These are fixable problems</h2>
<p>These are disturbing findings, highlighting a major inequity. This situation, however, is not inevitable. </p>
<p>The socioeconomic environment is a powerful and potentially modifiable factor. Good public policy – particularly in areas such as housing, taxation and social security, work environments, urban design, pollution control, educational achievement, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12233246">early childhood development</a> – can help make a difference to addressing these problems and reducing the health inequality gap in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Glover receives funding from the Australian government, the Heart Foundation SA and the Foundation for Young Australians.</span></em></p>Public health experts traditionally expect that the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be unwell and die before your time. But newly available data on cancer rates show that’s not always true.John Glover, Director of Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU), Torrens University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/791542017-06-14T02:21:54Z2017-06-14T02:21:54ZDo poor people eat more junk food than wealthier Americans?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173655/original/file-20170613-30093-1bz5vct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Billionaire Warren Buffett says he drinks five Cokes a day.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Nati Harnik</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eating fast food is frequently blamed for damaging our health. </p>
<p>As nutrition experts point out, it is <a href="https://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v31/n6/full/0803616a.html">not</a> the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=43699">healthiest</a> type of meal since it is typically high in fat and salt. More widely, it’s <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/health/Obesity-and-Fast-Food.aspx">seen as a key factor</a> in the growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. and throughout the world. </p>
<p>Because it’s considered relatively inexpensive, there’s an assumption that poor people eat more fast food than other socioeconomic groups – which has convinced some local governments to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16fastfood.html?mcubz=0">try to limit their access</a>. Food journalist <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html">Mark Bittman</a> sums up the sentiment succinctly: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The ‘fact’ that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our recently <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X16300363">published research</a> examined this assumption by looking at who eats fast food using a large sample of random Americans. What we found surprised us: Poor people were actually less likely to eat fast food – and do so less frequently – than those in the middle class, and only a little more likely than the rich.</p>
<p>In other words, the guilty pleasure of enjoying a McDonald’s hamburger, Kentucky Fried Chicken popcorn nuggets or Taco Bell burrito is shared across the income spectrum, from rich to poor, with an overwhelming majority of every group reporting having indulged at least once over a nonconsecutive three-week period. </p>
<h2>A diet of Cokes and Oreos</h2>
<p>In retrospect, the fact that everyone eats fast food perhaps should not be that surprising. </p>
<p>There are rich and famous people, including President <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/us/politics/donald-trump-diet.html">Donald Trump</a>, who are also famous for their <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/02/mind-boggling-reason-donald-trump-loves-mcdonalds">love of fast food</a>. Trump even made a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr9LwiSayWU">commercial for McDonald’s</a> in 2002 extolling the virtues of their hamburgers. Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest people, says he “eats like a 6-year-old,” <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-sweet-tooth-dairy-queen-coca-cola-see-s-candies-201539716.html">meaning lots of Oreos and Cokes</a> every day (he <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/business/warren-buffettis-bad-for-your-health/">invests like one too</a>). </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yr9LwiSayWU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>What we learned from our research is that we all have a soft spot for fast food. We analyzed a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/nls/">cross-section of the youngest members of the baby boom generation</a> – Americans born from 1957 to 1964 – from all walks of life who have been interviewed regularly since 1979. Respondents were asked about fast-food consumption in the years 2008, 2010 and 2012 – when they were in their 40’s and 50’s. Specifically, interviewers posed the following question: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“In the past seven days, how many times did you eat food from a fast-food restaurant such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut or Taco Bell?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overall, 79 percent of respondents said they ate fast food at least once during the three weeks. Breaking it down by income deciles (groups of 10 percent of aggregate household income) did not show big differences. Among the highest 10th of earners, about 75 percent reported eating fast food at least once in the period, compared with 81 percent for the poorest. Earners in the middle were the biggest fans of fast food, at about 85 percent. </p>
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<p>The data also show middle earners are more likely to eat fast food frequently, averaging a little over four meals during the three weeks, compared with three for the richest and 3.7 for the poorest. </p>
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<p>Because the data occurred over a four-year period, we were also able to examine whether dramatic changes in wealth or income altered individuals’ eating habits. The data showed becoming richer or poorer didn’t have much effect at all on how often people ate fast food. </p>
<h2>Regulating fast food</h2>
<p>These results suggest focusing on preventing poor people from having access to fast food may be misguided. </p>
<p>For example, Los Angeles in 2008 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16fastfood.html?mcubz=0">banned new freestanding fast food restaurants</a> from opening in the poor neighborhoods of South L.A. The given reason for the ban was because “fast-food businesses in low-income areas, particularly along the Southeast Los Angeles commercial corridors, intensifies socio-economic problems in the neighborhoods, and creates serious public health problems.”</p>
<p>Research suggests <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25779774">this ban did not work</a> since obesity rates went up after the ban compared to other neighborhoods where fast food had no restrictions. This seems to pour cold water on <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/winnable/zoning_obesity.html">other efforts</a> to solve obesity problems by <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576136/Government-may-ban-fast-food-near-schools.html">regulating the location</a> of fast-food restaurants. </p>
<h2>Not all that cheap</h2>
<p>Another problem with the stereotype about poor people and fast food is that by and large it’s not actually that cheap, in absolute monetary terms. </p>
<p>The typical cost per meal at a fast-food restaurant – which the U.S. Census calls limited service – is <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_72SXSB02&prodType=table">over US$8</a> based on the average of all limited service places. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cost-to-eat-at-every-major-fast-food-chain-2015-9">Fast food is cheap only in comparison</a> to eating in a full-service restaurant, with the average cost totals about US$15 on average.</p>
<p>Moreover, $8 is a lot for a family living under the U.S. poverty line, which for a family of two is a <a href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines">bit above $16,000</a>, or about $44 per day. It is doubtful a poor family of two would be able to regularly spend more than a third of its daily income eating fast food.</p>
<h2>The lure of fast food</h2>
<p>If politicians really want to improve the health of the poor, limiting fast-food restaurants in low-income neighborhoods is probably not the way to go. </p>
<p>So what are some alternative solutions? </p>
<p>We found that people who said they checked ingredients before eating new foods had lower fast-food intake. This suggests that making it easier for Americans to learn what is in their food could help sway consumers away from fast food and toward healthier eating options. </p>
<p>Another finding was that working more hours raises fast-food consumption, regardless of income level. People eat it because it’s fast and convenient. This suggests policies that make nutritious foods more readily available, quickly, could help offset the lure of fast food. For example, reducing the red tape for approving food trucks that serve meals containing fresh fruits and vegetables could promote healthier, convenient eating. </p>
<p>Our goal is not to be fast-food cheerleaders. We do not doubt that a diet high in fast food is unhealthy. We just doubt, based on our data, that the poor eat fast food more than anyone else.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s an assumption that the poor eat more unhealthy fast food because it’s relatively cheap, leading some governments to try limit their access. Two researchers tested that assumption.Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State UniversityPatricia Smith, Professor of Economics, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/739942017-03-22T13:49:48Z2017-03-22T13:49:48ZTo save humanity and the planet, we must redesign money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162014/original/image-20170322-31169-emsx0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Writing towards the end of World War II, the economic historian Karl Polanyi <a href="http://inctpped.ie.ufrj.br/spiderweb/pdf_4/Great_Transformation.pdf">showed</a> that the idea of the “self-regulating market” led to a recurring tension between the idea of free trade and the problems of transforming people, land, and money into commodities. If society did not protect itself from its logic, he argued, the market would inexorably increase economic inequality, environmental degradation, and financial instability. Polanyi saw the rampant nationalism of the two world wars, and the intervening economic crisis, as reactions to the 19th century expansion of world trade.</p>
<p>Today, we have every reason to reconsider Polanyi’s warning. Unprecedented economic growth in North America and Europe after World War II made it possible to regulate the market. In the affluent global North, the most damaging consequences of turning people, land and money into commodities seemed possible to alleviate. This was the <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/04/27/the-ages-of-welfare-why-europes-welfare-states-are-at-risk-of-terminal-decline/">golden age of the welfare state</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/162011/original/image-20170322-31169-17nzgeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Karl Polanyi in 1923.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.concordia.ca/research/polanyi/cunews/artsci/polanyi/2014/02/27/conference-enduring-legacy-karl-polanyi.html">Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy</a></span>
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<p>Critics arguing that the impoverishment of people and land had simply been displaced elsewhere – <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/U/bo3634235.html">to the developing world</a> – could be contradicted by blaming corrupt politicians. But since free market thinking took over in the 1980s, the insidious logic of the untamed market soon became obvious. Precisely as Polanyi could have predicted, <a href="http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/dividedwestandwhyinequalitykeepsrising.htm">increasing inequality</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-economy-focused-solely-on-growth-is-environmentally-and-socially-unsustainable-39761">environmental degradation</a>, and <a href="http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2014/02/02/modeling-financial-instability/">financial instability</a> have plagued the world since.</p>
<h2>Visions vs reality</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, those of us who are passionate about making the planet a better place have held on to visions of a future world society promoting justice, sustainability, and resilience. Regardless of political leanings, we have imagined a world where seven or more billion people can prosper. </p>
<p>These visions have remained fundamental to the moral identity of large portions of the middle class. But to believe that modern consumer society can be universalised is as misguided as to deny climate change. Given the widening inequalities, soaring greenhouse gas emissions, and exponentially increasing debts, the faith in world trade has lost its credibility. </p>
<p>We have somehow been able to disregard the fact that, if European or American affluence were universalised, <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/lpr_2016/">it would require four additional planets</a>. People might want to believe that the world is about to abandon fossil energy, but it continues to account for 86% of global energy use <a href="http://www.springer.com/gb/book/9781441994363">and shows little sign of abating</a>. If anything, our economies are growing increasingly wasteful of materials. In 30 years’ time, the world’s population will need <a href="http://www.isa.org.usyd.edu.au/about/16-00271_LW_GlobalMaterialFlowsUNE_SUMMARY_FINAL_160701.pdf">three times more resources than it does today</a>. So much for sustainability. </p>
<p>As regards justice and resilience, we have <a href="http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/an-economy-for-the-1-how-privilege-and-power-in-the-economy-drive-extreme-inequ-592643">been told</a> that 1% of the world’s population now owns more than the remaining 99%, and that global debt keeps going up and up (now at <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/06/global-debt-balloons-to-all-time-high-of-152-trillion-imf-warns.html">US$152 trillion</a>). So the neoliberal praise of free trade could hardly be more distant from reality.</p>
<h2>Rewriting the rules of the game</h2>
<p>It sounds less and less credible when members of the affluent middle class claim to want to promote global justice and sustainability, as the very economic logic which makes their affluence possible inexorably increases global gaps and environmental degradation. Even those of us who are most intent to save the planet find ourselves belonging to its heaviest burden, but must struggle to maintain our moral identity.</p>
<p>The solution requires us to recognise that the operation of markets and money is <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/money-as-a-social-construct-and-public-good/">socially constructed</a>. The rules of the game can be rewritten. To acknowledge the extent to which the destiny of human society and the biosphere has been delegated to the mindless logic of objects like money and technology is like snapping out of a delusion. To fathom the implications of this delusion would make us more receptive to the idea of a fundamentally reorganised economy.</p>
<p>When Polanyi predicted the insidious consequences of the market, he was tracing the logic of money and capital itself. To finally curb that logic we must redesign the very idea of money. We need to make the economy serve human goals.</p>
<p>Rather than positing that every possible aspect of human existence is exchangeable on the same market, we must distinguish between the local integrity of communities and ecosystems, on the one hand, and global communication, on the other. One way of doing this is by authorities issuing a monthly basic income for all citizens. This should not be in “ordinary” money, but in a special currency that can only be used to purchase goods and services originating within a certain distance (say, 50km) <a href="http://fessud.eu/proposal-voluntary-degrowth-redesigning-money-sustainability-justice-resilience/">from the point of purchase</a>. </p>
<p>This distinction between the local and the global would alleviate a number of problems. It would encourage a resurgence of local economies, promoting resilience, diversity, and recycling. Meanwhile, it would reduce long-distance transports, carbon dioxide emissions, and asymmetric global transfers of resources. </p>
<p>Most fundamentally, it would prevent human lives from being reduced to commodities. Nobody would have to sell their labour just to survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alf Hornborg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Increasing inequality, environmental degradation, financial instability – it’s clear the current system is broken.Alf Hornborg, Professor of Human Ecology, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/545292016-02-16T02:54:02Z2016-02-16T02:54:02ZWe can close the Indigenous nutrition gap – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111450/original/image-20160215-22587-1qd34kp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition and health we need real community consultation, improved public governance and political will.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gina Lyons, Irrunytju WA. Photo by Suzanne Bryce, NPY Women’s Council.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After years of neglect and a notable absence in last week’s <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/projects/close-gap-indigenous-health">Closing the Gap</a> report, <a href="http://theconversation.com/nutrition-is-key-to-closing-the-aboriginal-life-expectancy-gap-32632">nutrition</a> is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/australia-must-commit-to-closing-the-nutrition-gap-20160209-gmq3eb.html">finally being recognised</a> as integral to closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. </p>
<p>This belated realisation is puzzling, given poor diet is a major cause of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-10/nt-facing-a-kidney-health-crisis-experts-warn/7156570">kidney disease</a> and some cancers. Nutrition is particularly poor in <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4727.0.55.005main+features12012-13">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander</a> communities, where it is estimated that <a href="https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n55_australian_dietary_guidelines.pdf">at least 19%</a> of the burden of disease is due to poor diet; much more than due to smoking. </p>
<p>Unhealthy discretionary (“junk”) foods that are high in salt, fat or sugar make up <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4727.0.55.005main+features12012-13">more than 41%</a> of the energy intake of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia.</p>
<p>On top of this, more than 20% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4727.0.55.0052012-13?OpenDocument.">report</a> running out of food during the last 12 months and not being able to afford to buy more. </p>
<p>One of the rejected Close the Gap equity targets was that, by 2018, 90% of Indigenous families could access a healthy food basket for <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2009/190/10/improving-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-nutrition-and-health">less than 25%</a> of their income. But healthy foods can still cost <a href="http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/bibliography?lid=30038">double this</a>. </p>
<h2>What works</h2>
<p>Improving nutrition can be complex, but the people of Minjilang in Arnhem Land <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7841257">showed in the early 1990s</a> that rapid, marked and sustained health improvements are possible. In just 12 months, the community achieved a reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol levels (12%), lowered blood pressure (8%), improved vitamin levels, weight and diabetes. </p>
<p>The main reason for success was that the multi-strategy <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7603373">Survival Tucker</a> program was directed by the community. </p>
<p>However, these positive results have not been widely replicated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111586/original/image-20160216-22547-qz6rkr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Improving nutrition is complicated but it’s possible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sophie Nelson and son Juriahus in Pipalyatjara, South Australia. Photo by Suzanne Bryce, NPY Women’s Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What doesn’t work</h2>
<p>The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Strategy and Action Plan 2000-2010 provided a framework to address both food supply and demand. But while <a href="http://www.avidstudy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2005-Review-of-the-National-Aboriginal-and-Torres-Strait-Islander-Nutrition-Strategy-and-Action-Plan-2000-2010-Final-Report-D15-457554.pdf">evaluation showed</a> some promising results, particularly in workforce development, implementation was poorly resourced and patchy. </p>
<p>In 2009, the Council of Australian Governments developed the National Strategy for Food Security in Remote Indigenous Communities. Again, a <a href="http://www.anao.gov.au/%7E/media/Files/Audit%20Reports/2014%202015/Report%202/AuditReport_2014-2015_2.PDF">subsequent audit found</a> that resourcing had been poor, so few outcomes were achieved.</p>
<p>Since 2010, there has been a nutrition policy vacuum in Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and health services persevere, but efforts tend to be opportunistic, fractured and ad hoc due to lack of resources, support and coordination. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.eduwww.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-infrastructure/healthy-lifestyle-workers/nutrition/programs-and-projects">Current projects</a> mainly focus on nutrition education of children and school-based activities including gardening. Healthy lifestyle workers were involved in some of these activities but are being phased out. </p>
<p>Remote community store groups such as <a href="http://www.alpa.asn.au/">Arnhem Land Progress Association</a> and <a href="https://www.datsip.qld.gov.au/people-communities/retail-stores">Retail Stores</a> in Queensland, have confirmed the benefits of store nutrition policies. </p>
<p><a href="http://outbackstores.com.au/about/">Outback Stores</a> was established by the Commonwealth government in 2006 to improve diet in remote communities. This publicly funded venture provides little transparency around nutrition data, but last week admitted to selling <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-12/scullion-says-sugar-is-killing-remote-communities/7162974">1.1 million litres</a> of sugar-sweetened soft drink per year in its 36 stores.</p>
<p>Most <a href="http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-13-744">recent nutrition research efforts</a> focus on cutting high sugar intakes or increasing the intake of fruit and vegetables. But while these seem like obvious targets, it’s not that simple. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/bibliography?lid=30038">Our recent study</a> describes efforts to improve nutrition over the past 30 years in Central Australian communities now serviced by <a href="http://www.maiwiru.org.au/">Mai Wiru Regional Stores Council</a>. It shows that some improvements have been made: decreasing sugar (from 30% to 22% of energy intake), increasing availability and affordability of fruit and vegetables leading to a doubling of consumption, and consequent improvement in some nutrient intakes.</p>
<p>However, the overall effect has been a decrease in total diet quality. “Junk” food’s contribution to the average energy intake increased by 3%, with locals consuming more sugar-sweetened soft drinks, convenience meals such as microwavable pizzas and unhealthy take-away foods. </p>
<p>During this time, Mai Wiru also lost funding for its nutritionist.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111585/original/image-20160216-22570-cv8fr2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reforms need to improve availability, affordability, accessibility and promotion of healthy food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christine Watson, Mutitjulu, NT. Photo by Suzanne Bryce, NPY Women’s Council</span></span>
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<p>These results confirm that Aboriginal communities can exert control over some aspects of their food supply. But overall, concerted action and more resources are required to help communities tackle the broader impacts of the current Australian food system on our health. </p>
<p>A major barrier is that community stores are seen as small businesses rather than as essential services and are subject to commercial pressures to sell cheap, unhealthy food at high profit margins. </p>
<p>One worrying recent example is the advent of private-enterprise bakeries in Northern Territory communities. These are promoted as providing local employment opportunities and solutions to food insecurity but mainly sell <a href="http://www.alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/10/30/not-all-is-sweet-in-bush-bakery/">unhealthy options</a>. </p>
<h2>What more needs to be done?</h2>
<p>Evidence-based nutrition programs are <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2009/190/10/improving-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-nutrition-and-health">required urgently</a> in urban, rural and remote locations. </p>
<p>Reforms must include structural and regulatory changes to improve availability, affordability, accessibility and promotion of healthy food. Increased community capacity to prepare, cook and store healthy foods is also essential, for example, by improving <a href="http://www.healthabitat.com/the-healthy-living-practices-hlps">housing</a>. </p>
<p>Evidence-based <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2009/190/10/improving-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-nutrition-and-health">economic interventions</a> such as freight-subsidies, cross-subsidisation of healthy food and “fat taxes” need to be trialled. </p>
<p>Effective <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2009/190/10/improving-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-nutrition-and-health">primary care strategies</a> such as targeted family support, “well person’s health checks”, breastfeeding promotion and infant growth assessment and action programs are ready and waiting for funding to be implemented and expanded.</p>
<p>Above all, to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition and health we need real community consultation, improved public governance and political will.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Lee receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Turner receives funding from NSW Health. She is a Director of Indigenous Allied Health Australia.</span></em></p>After years of neglect and a notable absence in last week’s Closing the Gap report, nutrition is finally being recognised as integral to closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.Amanda Lee, Professor, School of Public Health and Social Work; School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of TechnologyNicole Turner, Senior Project Officer, Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/496982015-11-23T15:49:34Z2015-11-23T15:49:34ZWhich countries punch above their weight in education rankings?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102815/original/image-20151123-18227-1xcbdhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thinking differently about comparing education systems. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Areipa.lt/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rankings of countries based on how well their students perform in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) always receive a great deal of attention from the media and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/03/michael-gove-pisa-education-oecd-league-tables">politicians</a>. But <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm">PISA rankings</a>, produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, are limited when it comes to evaluating the quality of education systems and their efforts to improve children’s lives.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm">rankings tell us</a>, for example, that 15-year-olds in Germany and the US perform better in mathematics than students in Peru or Indonesia. Yet we also know that <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD">income per capita</a> in Peru and Indonesia is way less than that in Germany and the US.</p>
<p>So is it fair to compare education systems operating in such different socio-economic conditions? How would these education systems perform if they served students and operated in countries with more or less similar socio-economic characteristics?</p>
<p>In studies of how well individual children do and the “effectiveness” of individual schools, pupils’ socio-economic characteristics are now ritually taken into account. The same reasoning can be extended when comparing countries’ education systems. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13803611.2014.891462">research</a> has measured the effectiveness of education systems by adjusting the performance of students who take the PISA tests for the socio-economic context. The effectiveness measure is obtained by calculating the difference between how well students in the education systems ranked by the OECD actually perform, and how they should be expected to perform due to the socio-economic characteristics of students, schools, and countries.</p>
<p>In the graph below, those countries with values higher than zero – towards the right-hand side – have 15-year-olds who perform above expectations in mathematics, meaning the education system is effective. Those below zero, to the left, indicate ineffective performance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102642/original/image-20151120-416-18p5lbv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=717&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PISA 2012, effectiveness of education systems in mathematics performance. Note: Albania and Lichtenstein were removed for missing data in the economic, social and cultural status index and sample size restrictions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The results show a different configuration of countries’ performance once the socio-economic context is considered. For example, Turkey, Thailand, and Indonesia are effective systems, once results are adjusted in this way, although their absolute performance in the PISA tests is below average. Conversely, the US, Sweden, and Norway are among the least effective systems if socio-economic context is taken into account, but exhibit higher absolute performance scores. </p>
<p>There are also systems that perform highly according to both absolute scores and for effectiveness once their performance is adjusted for socio-economic context – such as Hong Kong, Korea, and Chinese Taipei. Others have both low absolute performance scores and effectiveness measures, such as Argentina, Jordan, and Qatar. And there are also systems which perform within their expected range, such as Mexico, Spain, Finland, and New Zealand.</p>
<h2>Taking wealth into account</h2>
<p>The second graph below shows the relationship between absolute mathematics scores in PISA 2012 and effectiveness measures, adjusted for socio-economic context. Those education systems that perform well in absolute terms do also tend to be more effective, but the relationship is not perfect and there are considerable differences between the two. </p>
<p>For example, absolute mathematics performance in Norway and the US is similar to performance in Portugal – but Portugal is effective and Norway and the US are not. For their socio-economic context, Norway and the US perform below what can be expected, whereas Portugal exceeds its expected performance. You could argue that for their advantaged socio-economic conditions, the US and Norway could perform considerably higher than they do.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102805/original/image-20151123-18255-13tmpjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Which countries are most effective? PISA 2012, math absolute scores versus effectiveness scores, adjusted for socio-economic context. The horizontal line at 0 separates effective from ineffective systems and the vertical line at 500 score points indicates the OECD average. Albania and Lichtenstein removed for missing data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13803611.2014.891462">PISA 2012 data.</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s clear that some countries perform very differently when their socio-economic situation is taken into account, whereas others perform more or less the same. For example, performance in Mexico, Spain, Finland, and New Zealand practically does not change after the socio-economic context is considered. </p>
<h2>Better than expected</h2>
<p>But performance is much higher than expected in Thailand, Turkey, and Portugal. Put differently, these systems would score higher in PISA rankings if it took into account the socio-economic context of the countries.</p>
<p>There are, on the other hand, systems such as Norway, Sweden, the US, Israel, Greece, Jordan, and Qatar that perform worse than expected. It seems that comparatively, these countries could perform better considering the available economic resources and the socio-economic characteristics of the student populations they serve. </p>
<p>But there might be other cultural and economic factors, such as the distribution of economic resources, that condition the results of effectiveness and are difficult to change through reforms to education policy. </p>
<p>The PISA results tell us how countries perform in absolute terms. But
looking at how effective education systems are according to their socio-economic context offers a complementary perspective. </p>
<p>Viewed this way, it is possible for an education system operating in relatively disadvantaged conditions, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam, to perform better than one with higher performance according to PISA rankings but operating under more favourable socioeconomic conditions, such as Iceland, Norway, the UK, the US, and Sweden.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Caro received funding from the OECD Thomas J. Alexander fellowship program for carrying out this work. The work should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein are those of the authors. The authors are very grateful to Pablo Zoido and Noémie Le Donne for their valuable feedback and support.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Lenkeit does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An alternative way to look at who comes where in PISA tests – and the results are surprising.Daniel Caro, Research Fellow, University of OxfordJenny Lenkeit, Research Fellow, Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/360892015-01-27T11:08:27Z2015-01-27T11:08:27ZMixed income public housing: mixed outcomes, mixed-up concept<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69903/original/image-20150123-24515-1u7v3n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mixed-income developments replace Chicago's Cabrini-Green Homes: Old Town Village West townhouses rise in front of the last remaining towers (since demolished) in this 2009 photograph.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, public housing stood as the most architecturally visible and politically stigmatized reminder of urban poverty in many American cities. Originally built to accommodate an upwardly mobile segment of the working poor, by the 1970s public housing had <a href="http://www.amazon.com/From-Puritans-Projects-Housing-Neighbors/dp/067402575X">become</a> a last-resort option for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Purging-Poorest-Twice-Cleared-Communities-Historical/dp/022601245X">low-income elderly and the poorest of families</a>. Critics blamed public housing for concentrating poverty, encouraging welfare dependency, increasing crime and violence, and contributing to urban disinvestment and decline.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, the United States federal government and local housing authorities have replaced hundreds of troubled public housing projects with mixed-income developments. Has it worked? It depends who you ask: scholars, elected officials, housing developers, and low-income residents <a href="http://www.amazon.com/From-Despair-Hope-Promise-Americas/dp/0815714254">continue to disagree</a>. A key area of contention has to do with the term “mixed-income” – which, though widely used, is rarely defined. </p>
<p>In researching public housing, we’ve concluded that if policymakers fail to agree on a clearer definition of mixed-income housing aims and attributes, the sought after benefits of public housing reinvention will remain elusive. </p>
<h2>A new vision for public housing</h2>
<p>Beginning in the early 1990s, policymakers proposed demolishing low-income public housing projects and replacing them with mixed-income housing. The idea was that this would reduce concentrated poverty and revitalize deteriorating neighborhoods. Between 1993 and 2010, Congress appropriated more than $6 billion to fund these efforts through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPE VI (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere) program. </p>
<p>Today, “the projects” are now far less visually prominent in many cities, as more than 250,000 public housing units – including <a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-Deal-Ruins-Economic-Justice/dp/0801478286">some of the most notorious high-rise complexes</a>, like Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes and Detroit’s Frederick Douglass Homes – <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2011.00550.x/abstract">have been demolished</a>. </p>
<p>Supporters contended the HOPE VI program would yield safe and attractive neighborhoods to serve all incomes. Some former residents of demolished projects would gain a place to live in the new communities, while others could use subsidized housing vouchers to move into diverse neighborhoods (presumed to be less deprived than their former homes). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100302690">Detractors countered</a> that mixed-income redevelopment would lead to a loss of much-needed “hard units” of public housing. As a result, many low-income households would merely be dislocated to other pre-existing, impoverished neighborhoods, where they would lack established social networks. Others added that income mixing is a thinly veiled attempt by a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Neoliberal-City-Governance-Development/dp/0801473039">neoliberal state</a> to commit public funds to <a href="http://policypress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1332/policypress/9781847424938.001.0001/upso-9781847424938">gentrification</a>. Additionally, most scholars have found that many of the assumed benefits of mixing low-income residents with their higher-earning counterparts – such as role modeling and social networking – fail to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2010.00537.x/abstract">positively impact</a> the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01944363.2011.567921#preview">lives</a> of low-income families. </p>
<p>By contrast, other aspects of mixed-income developments <a href="http://nimc.case.edu/mixed-income-research-studies/pubs/">seem more promising</a>: enhanced security, increased investment in neighborhoods, and higher expectations for management.</p>
<h2>Mixed-income can mean many things</h2>
<p>To assess these various claims, we must first identify what we mean by the term mixed-income. However, if there is little consensus on what mixed housing actually <em>does</em>, there is even less of a consensus on what mixed-income housing <em>is</em>.</p>
<p><a href="http://2014uaa.sched.org/event/9feb5dc4ccdf1b59885f3597eec913cf#.VLfjElqSWIw">Our research shows</a>that the term “mixed-income” encompasses a heterogeneous set of projects, which differ widely in several areas. These include: </p>
<ul>
<li>The distribution and range of household incomes included in the redevelopment effort</li>
<li>The spatial strategy for mixing different income groups together</li>
<li>The proportion of dwelling units designated for home owners and for renters </li>
<li>The length of time that selected housing units are guaranteed to be subsidized for low-income families</li>
<li>The relative income levels of residents living in the surrounding neighborhood.</li>
</ul>
<p>Even though all 250+ HOPE VI public housing redevelopment projects since 1993 have received funding from the same federal program and are bound by the same basic federal regulations, local housing authorities and their partners exercised considerable discretion over the final form of mixed-income projects. This discretion reveals distinct choices about where and how low-income families should be housed. </p>
<p>Based on our preliminary analysis of HOPE VI proposals sent to HUD, most redevelopment efforts stipulated that families at the lowest end of the income scale – in other words, those in most desperate need of housing – should constitute a minority of residents in new mixed-income communities. Some redevelopments even sought to have a majority of units occupied by relatively wealthy households who would pay market-rate rents. </p>
<p>Conversely, <a href="https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2014/webprogram/Session4070.html">other HOPE VI proposals</a> allocated the overwhelming majority of apartments to low-income public housing residents. Still others skipped market-rate apartments entirely and instead favored substantial tiers of “affordable” housing that included smaller subsidies for those working families who might never think to apply for public housing, but still had relatively low incomes. In this latter brand of housing community, residents have a variety of income levels – and can still be considered “mixed” – even though all or nearly all of those incomes can still be regarded as “low.” Such initiatives have been implemented both <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Public-Housing-Struggle-Neighborhoods/dp/0674008987">before the HOPE VI program</a> began, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Shelter-Community-Francisco/dp/0816665826">under its auspices</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these narrow-mix arrangements constitute the minority of mixed-income housing proposals. Because vastly different social, economic, financial, and spatial mixes share the name “mixed-income,” many kinds of communities have been too easily lumped together under the same term. HOPE VI seems best conceptualized as an umbrella that covers quite a large variety of local practices and strategies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69685/original/image-20150121-29764-1mq96rl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2006, protesters in post-Katrina New Orleans objected to using demolished public housing as the primary site for building mixed-income communities. Instead, they mockingly targeted wealthy neighborhoods for income mixing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/culturesubculture/325861306/">Subculture Photography/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Who’s left out? Large numbers of extremely low-income households that once called public housing home.</p>
<p>Even if there are positive outcomes from mixed-income housing, important unresolved questions remain: which type of mixed-income housing plan will be best for achieving such gains? Do only some residents benefit, while others simply get displaced to other high-poverty areas? </p>
<p>In other words, before we can accurately evaluate the positive and negative effects of mixed-income communities, we must first agree on what we mean by the term mixed-income. Without disentangling this definitional knot, mixed-income redevelopment of public housing will remain deeply ambiguous as a practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For decades, public housing stood as the most architecturally visible and politically stigmatized reminder of urban poverty in many American cities. Originally built to accommodate an upwardly mobile segment…Lawrence Vale, Ford Professor of Urban Design and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Shomon Shamsuddin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305462014-08-18T10:31:09Z2014-08-18T10:31:09ZNorthern Ireland’s stellar exam results mask underlying gap between rich and poor<p>As students across the UK and Ireland consider their next steps following publication of this year’s exam results, news outlets have been quick to <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/northern-ireland-students-a-class-apart-as-results-eclipse-rest-of-uk-30510153.html">produce whimsical comparisons</a> to determine the top performing devolved region. </p>
<p>Students in Northern Ireland continue to outperform their counterparts across the UK, as has been the case for some years. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-28780966">The BBC highlighted</a> that students from the North of Ireland have more A-level A* and A grades than those taking similar subjects in England and Wales. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56604/original/r3hz9gfm-1408099162.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In a 2013 speech made at the Northern Ireland Investment Conference, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-camerons-speech-at-the-northern-ireland-investment-conference">David Cameron was quick to champion</a> the successes of the Northern Irish education system. He stated emphatically that it had “the highest rankings for reading and numeracy of any English speaking part of the world”. </p>
<p>Not a bad achievement for a region which has a <a href="http://www.nisra.gov.uk/demography/default.asp47.htm">combined childhood population of less</a> than 500,000, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.</p>
<h2>Achievements of the elite</h2>
<p>This educational achievement is something to be proud of. But this form of reporting only serves to highlight the achievements of the privileged without appreciating the links between lower socioeconomic position and education across the region. In order to level the pedagogical playing field, instead of rushing to give Northern Ireland’s education system a collective “pat on the back,” educationalists should dig deeper into the dynamics of which children are doing well. </p>
<p>In forthcoming research with my colleague Clare Dwyer, we found that in terms of educational attainment, children and young people in Northern Ireland generally outperform their counterparts in England, Scotland, and Wales in terms of academic achievement overall (including GCSE and A Level results). </p>
<p>But when we looked at the link between socioeconomic status and school results, a more worrying trend emerged. We found that those children eligible for free school meals (a commonly used poverty indicator), underperformed those who are not eligible, and by some distance. Put simply, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds consistently fail to do well at school.</p>
<p>Up-to date research on social exclusion in Northern Ireland conducted by the NGO <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/where-we-work/united-kingdom/northern-ireland#sthash.CyDhtfYh.dpuf">Save the Children has revealed</a> that more than one in four children and young people live in poverty, with almost a tenth in severe poverty. </p>
<p>Save the Children found that in areas with the highest levels of childhood depletion, such as Ballymurphy ward in Belfast, more than 80% of people have no or low qualifications. </p>
<p>So although students across the North of Ireland are collectively outperforming their UK counterparts in exams, there is a growing disparity between those who have the opportunity, financial security and stable family environment in which to achieve their academic potential, and those who don’t.</p>
<h2>Catholic schools do better</h2>
<p>Further <a href="http://www.community-relations.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Peace-Monitoring-Report-2014.pdf">research in the 2013 Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report</a> reveals that this disparity is linked to both gender and community background. Almost half of all catholic girls growing up in lower socioeconomic backgrounds are likely to go on to higher education, in contrast to less than a third of protestant boys from similar backgrounds.</p>
<p>As the GCSE and A Level results in Northern Ireland are analysed further, statisticians will further reveal that the top-performing schools across the region are either catholic or state-sponsored (predominantly protestant).</p>
<p>With catholic schools <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/every-one-of-northern-irelands-top-five-schools-is-a-catholic-grammar-30140937.html">already performing better</a> than their state-sponsored counterparts, there will be the predictable clamour of support for integrated schooling between the catholic and protestant communities.</p>
<h2>Time to reinterpret integrated education</h2>
<p>The issue of integrated education continues to be an area that stirs up the strongest feelings of support in terms of post-conflict reconstruction among the Northern Irish population. <a href="http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2008/Community_Relations/PROTRCMX.html">A survey</a> carried out in 2008 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education found that 84% of respondents who had children or grandchildren of school age or younger thought that integrated education was “very important” or “fairly important”.</p>
<p>Critics of the Northern Irish education system vehemently champion educational integration between catholic and protestant children as a central issue of concern. But there really ought to be a greater emphasis on addressing the attainment gap between rich and poor. </p>
<p>Lost behind the tribalism of “us” and “them” politics is the alarming rate of educational underachievement in areas of the highest levels of childhood poverty. </p>
<p>Instead of rushing to highlight the successes of elite student performance across Northern Ireland as media outlets do <em>ad nauseam</em>, we need a more rigorous and dedicated focus on safeguarding the opportunity for all children and young people, regardless of their position within society. Only then can Northern Ireland properly address the blatant disparity between the privileged few and those who are left behind. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Ciarán Browne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As students across the UK and Ireland consider their next steps following publication of this year’s exam results, news outlets have been quick to produce whimsical comparisons to determine the top performing…Brendan Ciarán Browne, Research Fellow, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146002013-07-06T23:26:02Z2013-07-06T23:26:02ZWhy our ‘second tier’ universities are responsible for social and economic change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/25974/original/cbgfg9tc-1371790980.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Second tier universities should embrace the new university trajectory and avoid mimicking the traditions set by institutions such as Oxford.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The modern Western university has five major historical trajectories, four of which were dominant for more than 400 years. But the fifth, while spanning no more than 50 years, has been a crucial driver of an important historical and social change, especially in Australia.</p>
<p>The longest of the trajectories dates from the 11th century and was initially concerned with educating personnel for the Roman Catholic Church. It received a boost from the <a href="http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503542379-1">Christianising of Aristotle</a> undertaken by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century: the main message of which was the need to strive for perfection in the image of a perfect God. </p>
<p>Not much of the perfect God component survives in today’s universities. But in the form of perfect reason, given to it by <a href="http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kant/immanuel/k16pra/part1.2.2.html">Immanuel Kant</a> in the 18th century, it survives in a big way.</p>
<p>The second trajectory is almost as old. It is more practical than it is intellectual, involving the education of children of those with landed wealth. In the 18th and 19th century it expanded to include the education of the children of those with moneyed wealth, something which made it suitable for the United States.</p>
<p>These first two trajectories between them have been and remain the inspiration for the supposedly “traditional” elite universities. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale are all institutions that continue to serve as models for universities around the world.</p>
<p>The third trajectory dates from the late 15th and 16th century. It is concerned with the promotion of dissenting confessions of the Reformation and their need for committed Protestant personnel. Its close but difficult relations with capitalism, succinctly captured by Max Weber in his <a href="http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/1095/The%20Protestant%20Ethic%20and%20the%20Spirit%20of%20Capitalism.pdf">Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism</a>, has given it a life in the present day. It has of course dropped the more obvious characteristics of its Protestant heritage, though not all of them by any means.</p>
<p>The fourth trajectory relates to attempts to bring an end to the religion-based civil wars of the the 16th and 17th century. These wars lasted for nearly 150 years and wiped out large swathes of the population. Some 16th century thinkers attempted to use new forms of education to create new types of personnel. <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justus-lipsius/">Justus Lipsius</a>, for example, sought to train people in constancy, patience, and firmness, as set out in his influential book De Constantia.</p>
<p>The 17th century thinkers – especially <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes/">Thomas Hobbes</a> in England and <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pufendorf-moral/">Samuel Pufendorf</a> and <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/18thGerman-preKant/">Christian Thomasius</a> in Germany – had more success. They were aided in their efforts by the anonymous officials who crafted the <a href="http://www.marxists.org/history/capitalism/un/treaty-westphalia.htm">Treaty of Westphalia of 1648</a>.</p>
<p>When this treaty was able to establish a stable peace, important university reforms followed. Hobbes and Pufendorf were dead by this time, but Thomasius became a key figure in establishing the first of the new non-confessional universities, at Halle. Here he had particular influence in training lawyers in the virtues of constancy, patience, and firmness.</p>
<p>The new trajectory, then, was largely about producing a new type of person. This was a person who could work in an impersonal, non-sectarian manner, with a commitment to meritocracy and to an ethos of service. This was vital for the new form of rule that Westphalia ushered in: rule by the sovereign state. </p>
<p>In the intervening centuries the demands on the state have never slowed. It has had to learn how to govern more and more facets of life and how to effectively raise and spend the funds needed for the ever-growing list of governing projects. </p>
<p>Having cut its teeth on governing the armed forces, the state had to expand its reach dramatically in the nineteenth century when “the economy” emerged as a distinct domain in need of careful government. The state had to expand again in the 20th century when “the environment” emerged as a distinct entity in need of careful government.</p>
<p>This is not the stuff of dreaming spires, rather it is about advancing the “civil enlightenment.” Some universities were involved right from the start of this trajectory, though it has to be said that other “sui generis” institutions, like the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/288741/Inns-of-Court">Inns of Court in England</a>, were initially more suited to the tasks at hand. But eventually many universities, especially the new ones, turned in this direction.</p>
<p>However, they mostly did so grudgingly. While some of them seemed keen on the project, many others were - and still are - averse to the state, or at least to the idea of the state. It is something of a paradox that many universities today want to lay claim to similarities between themselves and the traditional universities - those steeped in the earlier trajectories - yet they don’t say much, if anything, about this vital fourth trajectory.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it is the ever-growing demands of the state, coupled with the exponential expansion of private economic activity, which led to the establishment of many more universities post World War Two. In many countries the growth of the number of universities and the number of students has continued into the <a href="http://www.acer.edu.au/enews/2012/09/university-numbers-growing-fast-indigenous-even-faster">21st century</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/26061/original/73q97xyh-1372047338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While so-called ‘first tier’ universities may have the prestige, it is ‘second tier’ universities that have influenced greater levels of socioeconomic change in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Luis Enrique Ascui</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For me, this trajectory offers a noble ideal. It provides universities a means of respecting and supporting both the state and the private sector by increasing stability and prosperity and by helping to train personnel.</p>
<p>But I’m even keener on the fifth and final trajectory. To the best of my knowledge, it is very little remarked upon. This is the trajectory by which universities have begun to contribute substantially to the creation of wealth for those who once were always financially strapped. To put it another way, it encouraged the growth of the middle class.</p>
<p>As so few members of the working classes in modern Western countries had access to university before World War Two, its newness is hardly surprising. </p>
<p>In the boom years of the 1960s and 1970s, governments in many countries found both the will and the resources to the dramatically expand the number of people who wished to attend university.</p>
<p>I don’t know if anyone’s done it, but if they haven’t I’d like to see the development of what I call the “FIFAU index”: the First In Family to Attend University index. If this is at present only an anecdotal measure of the success of the new wave of universities, I’d like to see it systematised.</p>
<p>In Australia the FIFAU phenomenon is particularly significant. It’s now into its second generation. I know many baby-boomer FIFAUs: I’m one myself. Many of the children of these people have now also gone through university. </p>
<p>The benefits to the nation are two-fold. Two generations have been trained for service to the state and/or the private sector. More importantly, the wealth gained by these generations by the accumulations of previous generations has increased demand and fostered greater equality of opportunity.</p>
<p>Sure, there have been hurdles - most notably the global financial crisis - but it’s still a significant social and economic change which has been driven by universities, or at least by a certain class of universities.</p>
<p>This brings me to my final argument. The universities that have driven this change in Australia are not so much the established traditional universities, which tend to educate comparatively few FIFAU students. Rather, it’s the “second-tier” city and regional universities which have taken and continue to take the bulk of these students, while at the same time producing research of an international standard.</p>
<p>You would think that these universities would be trumpeting their achievements as loudly as they can, arguing for special FIFAU-related funding grants. But from what I can see they have done precious little of this. </p>
<p>Instead, they spend more time trying to compete in the ranking exercises dominated by the more traditional universities, which often has them trying to look as much like the traditional universities as they can. Is this is a mistake?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary Wickham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The modern Western university has five major historical trajectories, four of which were dominant for more than 400 years. But the fifth, while spanning no more than 50 years, has been a crucial driver…Gary Wickham, Professor of Sociology, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.