Poverty Reduction and Economic Fairness
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Addressing the Housing Affordability Crisis Requires Increasing Housing Supply and Expanding Rental Assistance
| Will Fischer | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | June 10, 2026
This article argues that solving the housing affordability crisis requires both building more housing and expanding rental assistance for low-income households. It emphasizes that supply alone will not help families who need immediate help paying rent, and frames rental assistance as a poverty-reduction policy.
Philippines Can End Poverty and Build a Middle-Class Society by 2040 — But Only With Urgent Reforms
| World Bank | World Bank | June 4, 2026
This article reports on a World Bank assessment arguing that the Philippines can end poverty and become a largely middle-class society by 2040 if it carries out major reforms. It emphasizes better jobs, stronger household resilience, improved education, and more inclusive growth as central tools for poverty reduction.
Myths vs. Facts About the Minimum Wage
| Sebastian Martinez Hickey | Economic Policy Institute | June 1, 2026
This report answers common claims against raising the minimum wage and argues that higher wage floors can improve living standards for low-paid workers. It presents minimum wage policy as a tool for reducing poverty-level wages and promoting greater economic fairness.
New World Bank Project Will Help Transform Ukraine’s Social Protection System
| World Bank | World Bank | May 28, 2026
This article describes a World Bank project aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s social protection system during wartime and recovery. It focuses on improving access to benefits, reducing poverty, and making sure support reaches vulnerable households during periods of crisis.
Defining Top U.S. Income and Wealth Thresholds for Tax Policy
| Austin Clemens | Washington Center for Equitable Growth | May 27, 2026
This factsheet explains how policymakers define high-income and high-wealth households when designing tax policy. It is relevant to economic fairness because decisions about who counts as wealthy shape debates over progressive taxation, revenue, and inequality reduction.
Setting High Standards for a Federal Minimum Wage
| Ben Zipperer | Economic Policy Institute | May 21, 2026
This report proposes tying the federal minimum wage to two-thirds of the national median wage. It argues that this approach would lift pay for nearly 40 million workers and help prevent the minimum wage from falling behind living costs again.
SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Republican Megabill Is Implemented
This tracker documents declines in SNAP participation after implementation of the 2025 federal law. It frames food assistance as a core anti-poverty program and warns that cuts to SNAP can increase hunger and economic hardship among low-income families.
UN Development Chief Says $6 Billion Investment Could Save 32 Million People From War-Induced Poverty
| Reuters | Reuters | April 15, 2026
This article reports on the UN Development Programme’s warning that war-driven energy price shocks could push millions of people into poverty. It highlights targeted cash payments and energy subsidies as relatively low-cost interventions that could protect vulnerable households from sudden economic hardship.
The Minimum Wage in 2026: Economic Theory and Evidence in a Changing Policy Landscape
| Anna Tippner | Michigan Journal of Economics | April 13, 2026
This article reviews the economic debate over minimum wage increases in 2026. It discusses state-level wage hikes, employment effects, inflation concerns, and the role of higher wage floors in reducing poverty and improving fairness for low-wage workers.
Lean and Just? Social Protection Spending and Inequality in Europe
| International Monetary Fund | IMF | April 10, 2026
This IMF working paper examines how European countries can reduce inequality while facing fiscal constraints. It focuses on whether social protection spending can be designed to remain affordable while still protecting lower-income households and reducing economic inequality.
Building Climate Resilience to Drive Growth, Jobs, and Poverty Reduction in Zambia
| World Bank | World Bank | April 2, 2026
This article describes World Bank recommendations for Zambia to reduce poverty while adapting to climate change. It emphasizes resilient infrastructure, disaster risk systems, adaptive social protection, skills training, and job creation as part of a poverty-reduction strategy.
The District of Columbia Should Take Needed Steps to Improve the Child Support Pass-Through
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | March 18, 2026
This article argues that Washington, D.C. should allow more child support payments to go directly to families receiving TANF rather than retaining those funds. It presents child support pass-through reform as a way to increase family income and reduce poverty among children.
Global Economy Must Stop Pandering to ‘Frivolous Desires of Ultra-Rich’, Says UN Expert
| Damian Carrington | The Guardian | March 3, 2026
This article reports on UN Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter’s call for a new global economic model that prioritizes the needs of poor and working people over luxury consumption by the wealthy. It discusses proposals such as universal basic income, job guarantees, debt cancellation, wealth taxes, and alternatives to GDP-centered growth as tools for reducing poverty and economic inequality.
Reflections on Adaptive Social Protection
| United Nations Development Programme | UNDP | March 2026
This report explains how adaptive social protection systems can reduce poverty while helping communities withstand climate disasters, conflict, and economic shocks. It argues that cash transfers, social insurance, and livelihood support can be designed to respond quickly when households face crises.
Anti-Poverty Programs Can Change How People See the State and Each Other
| International Food Policy Research Institute | IFPRI | February 25, 2026
This article explains how social transfer programs, including cash transfers and food aid, do more than reduce poverty and cushion households from shocks. It argues that anti-poverty programs can reshape public trust, social solidarity, and people’s understanding of the relationship between citizens and government.
Don’t Get Distracted in the Debate on Cash Transfers
This article examines the debate over cash transfers and warns against drawing broad conclusions from small or narrowly designed programs. It argues that cash aid can reduce hardship more effectively when benefits are large enough to meaningfully change household choices and support long-term investment.
From Services to Cash to Services: Back to the Future or Social Protection Maturation?
| Dhushyanth Raju and Michal Rutkowski | Brookings Institution | February 13, 2026
This article explains how social protection systems are evolving beyond cash transfers toward integrated services such as case management, employment support, child care, and disability services. It argues that income support remains essential, but that services can help poor households overcome barriers that cash alone may not solve.
New Evidence Underscores Why Neighborhoods Matter and How Policies Can Improve Lives
[https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/new-evidence-underscores-why-neighborhoods-matter-and-how-policies-can-improve-lives | Urban Institute | Urban Institute
| February 12, 2026]
This article explains how neighborhood conditions affect upward mobility for children from low-income families. It argues that affordable housing, school access, transportation, safety, and inclusive neighborhood policy can all help reduce poverty across generations.
Republican Megabill Trades Essential Support to Low-Income People for Skewed Tax Cuts
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | February 11, 2026
This article argues that the 2025 federal law shifts resources away from low-income households while giving large tax benefits to wealthy households. It presents the law as an example of tax and budget policy increasing inequality rather than reducing poverty.
What Did 2025 State Tax Changes Mean for Racial and Economic Equity?
| Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy | ITEP | February 9, 2026
This article reviews state tax policy changes in 2025 and evaluates whether they made tax systems more or less fair. It highlights states that expanded credits for low- and moderate-income households or raised revenue from wealthier families, while also warning that some income-tax cuts made state tax systems more regressive and weakened funding for public services.
Low-Wage Workers Faced Worsening Affordability in 2025 as Wage Growth Stalled
| Elise Gould and Joe Fast | Economic Policy Institute | February 5, 2026
This article explains that low-wage workers saw real wages decline in 2025 after several years of stronger gains. It argues that affordability problems are closely tied to weak wage growth and that policymakers should raise wages rather than treating inflation and poverty as separate problems.
Why Federal Food Assistance Became Politically Polarizing — and What to Do About It
| Washington Center for Equitable Growth | Equitable Growth | February 2, 2026
This article examines the political debate around SNAP and argues that food assistance remains one of the most important anti-poverty tools in the United States. It discusses evidence that SNAP reduces poverty, stabilizes food consumption, improves long-term health, and supports children and families facing economic insecurity.
Analyzing Recent U.S. Economic Policies Using Equitable Growth’s Inequality Tracker
| Washington Center for Equitable Growth | Equitable Growth | January 22, 2026
This article explains how inequality data can be used to evaluate recent economic policies. It shows how tracking income and wealth trends helps reveal whether policy changes are improving economic fairness or increasing the gap between rich and poor households.
How States Spend Funds Under the TANF Block Grant
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | January 16, 2026
This article explains how states use TANF funds and shows that many states spend only a limited share on direct cash assistance. It argues that TANF could do more to reduce child poverty if states prioritized basic assistance, work supports, and child care.
Investing TANF Dollars in Basic Assistance Is Vital for Families to Meet Their Needs
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | January 15, 2026
This article argues that states should use more TANF funds for direct cash assistance to families in poverty. It explains that basic assistance helps parents pay for rent, utilities, diapers, clothing, transportation, and other essentials that support children’s well-being.
The Child Tax Credit
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | January 6, 2026
This policy brief explains how the Child Tax Credit supports families with children and reduces poverty. It describes the credit’s history, eligibility rules, and anti-poverty impact, emphasizing that refundable tax credits are especially important for families with low earnings.
Congress Must Address SNAP Cost Shift Before Even More Low-Income Families Lose Food Assistance
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | 2026
This article argues that new SNAP cost-shift rules could force states to reduce food assistance if they cannot absorb added costs. It presents SNAP as a core anti-poverty program and warns that cutting benefits would increase hunger and hardship for low-income families.
Universal Social Protection in Changing Labour Markets
| International Labour Organization | ILO | 2026
This report examines how social protection systems must adapt to changing labor markets, including informal work, platform work, and unstable employment. It argues that universal social protection can prevent workers from falling into poverty when earnings are interrupted or reduced.
People Research Program: Social Protection Access for Refugees
| World Bank | World Bank | 2026
This World Bank research brief examines refugee access to social protection across host countries. It connects poverty reduction with the need to include displaced people in social assistance, insurance, and labor-market systems rather than leaving them outside national safety nets.
Cash Transfers, Welfare Policy, and Poverty Reduction: A Meta-Analysis of Educational Attainment, Consumption, and Global Justice
| R. A. de Sanson Portella | Critical Debates in Humanities, Science and Global Justice | 2026
This article reviews evidence on conditional, unconditional, and labeled cash transfer programs as tools for poverty reduction. It argues that cash transfers can improve consumption, education, and household stability, but that their success depends on program design, local conditions, and administrative capacity.
The Earned Income Tax Credit
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | December 19, 2025
This policy brief explains how the Earned Income Tax Credit supplements the wages of low-paid workers and reduces poverty. It highlights the credit’s role in supporting work, raising after-tax income, and improving long-term outcomes for children in low-income families.
Amid Federal Safety Net Cuts, Maryland’s Approach to Fighting Child Poverty Offers a Path for Other States
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | December 17, 2025
This article examines Maryland’s state-level strategy to reduce child poverty through tax credits, minimum wage policy, food assistance, housing efforts, and place-based anti-poverty grants. It highlights how states can build coordinated poverty-reduction systems even when federal support is weakening.
Why Universal Basic Income Still Can’t Meet the Challenges of an AI Economy
| Gene Marks | The Guardian | December 15, 2025
This article examines whether universal basic income could address economic disruption from artificial intelligence. It argues that while cash assistance may help reduce hardship, broader policies such as stronger wage supports, worker protections, public services, and capital redistribution may be needed to create real economic fairness.
Cash Transfers in the Perinatal Period and Child Welfare System Involvement Among Infants: Evidence From the Rx Kids Program in Flint, Michigan
This study examines Flint, Michigan’s Rx Kids program, which provided unconditional cash transfers to expectant mothers and families with infants. It finds that direct cash support was associated with a decline in infant maltreatment allegations, suggesting that economic stability can reduce family stress and improve child welfare outcomes.
The State of the World’s Children 2025: Ending Child Poverty
| UNICEF | UNICEF | November 20, 2025
This UNICEF report focuses on child poverty worldwide and argues that ending child poverty is a policy choice. It emphasizes social protection, public investment, education, health care, and income support as key tools for protecting children from deprivation and expanding opportunity.
More Than 400 Million Children Globally Live in Poverty, Missing Out on at Least Two Daily Needs
| UNICEF | UNICEF | November 19, 2025]
This article reports that hundreds of millions of children experience serious deprivation in areas such as food, shelter, sanitation, health care, education, and protection. It argues that ending child poverty requires governments to put children at the center of budgets, social protection, and economic policy.
Building Equitable Social Protection Systems for a Climate-Stressed Future
| ODI Global | ODI | November 16, 2025
This report examines how climate change is increasing poverty risks and argues that social protection systems must become more adaptive and equitable. It discusses cash transfers, school feeding, public works, and other tools that can help poor households withstand climate shocks.
Poverty-to-Prosperity Transitions
| United Nations Development Programme | UNDP | November 4, 2025
This report examines how countries can move people from poverty toward long-term economic security. It highlights adaptive social protection, labor-market policies, and public investment as strategies for reducing time spent in poverty and helping households recover from shocks.
UBI vs. Means-Tested Basic Income: Differing Approaches to Alleviating Poverty and Income Inequality
| Ian Gentry | Michigan Journal of Economics | October 31, 2025
This article compares universal basic income with targeted basic income programs. It explains the tradeoffs between broad universal payments and means-tested aid, focusing on cost, fairness, political feasibility, and the ability of different systems to reduce poverty.
Reducing Poverty and Inequalities Through Official Development Assistance
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | October 31, 2025
This explainer examines how development aid is allocated to countries and populations facing poverty and inequality. It argues that aid can support poverty reduction when it reaches vulnerable communities and helps finance health, education, social protection, and inclusive growth.
Optimal Cash Transfers and Microinsurance to Reduce Social Protection Costs
This research article studies how cash transfers and microinsurance can be combined to prevent households from falling into poverty. It argues that preventive support before families cross into crisis can be more efficient than waiting until households are already below the poverty line.
Only Full Abolition of Two-Child Benefit Cap Will Substantially Cut Poverty, Thinktank Says
| Patrick Butler | The Guardian | October 30, 2025
This article reports on analysis arguing that only full repeal of the United Kingdom’s two-child benefit cap would significantly reduce child poverty. It discusses the limits of partial reforms and presents direct income support as central to any serious child poverty strategy.
Brazil: Social Protection and Incentives for Formal Job Creation
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | October 30, 2025
This article examines Brazil’s social protection system and its role in reducing poverty and inequality. It also discusses the challenge of informality, arguing that anti-poverty policy must protect vulnerable workers while encouraging access to formal employment and benefits.
A Decade of Global Support to Social Development
| United Nations Development Programme | UNDP | October 28, 2025
This report reviews global progress and setbacks in poverty reduction over the past decade. It argues that pandemic shocks, conflict, climate change, and debt distress have slowed anti-poverty gains, making stronger social protection and inclusive development policies more urgent.
Data for Inclusion: The Redistributive Power of Data Economics
| Diego Vallarino | arXiv | October 14, 2025
This paper explores how broader access to positive credit information could improve financial inclusion. Using Uruguay as a case study, it argues that fairer credit data systems can reduce borrowing costs, expand access to credit, and lower inequality in financial burdens.
Building Fairer Fiscal Systems: Principles and Tools to Design Fiscal Policy for Gender Equality
| Nora Lustig and Colleagues | Brookings Institution | October 7, 2025
This article argues that tax and spending policy can reduce poverty and inequality, including inequality between men and women. It discusses how governments can design fiscal systems that raise revenue fairly while directing benefits toward households and groups facing economic disadvantage.
How Community-Based Social Protection Is Transforming Poverty Reduction
| United Nations Development Programme | UNDP | October 2, 2025
This policy paper explains how community-based social protection can reduce poverty and vulnerability through local networks, cash assistance, public services, and emergency support. It emphasizes that poverty reduction is not only about income, but also about inclusion, rights, and resilience.
Pakistan’s Poverty Reduction Reversed by Economic Shocks, Weak Reforms, World Bank Says
| Reuters | Reuters | September 23, 2025
This article reports that Pakistan’s earlier progress against poverty has been partly reversed by economic shocks, floods, inflation, and weak reforms. It highlights how fragile growth, low productivity, and inadequate public services can leave millions vulnerable to falling back into poverty.
Global Progress on Social Justice Slowed by Persistent Inequalities, New ILO Report Warns
| International Labour Organization | ILO | September 23, 2025
This article reports on an ILO assessment showing that progress on social justice has slowed because of persistent inequality, poverty, and instability. It argues that decent work, social protection, and inclusive institutions are necessary to restore trust and improve economic fairness.
Informing Policy: What Can Be Done to Ensure a More Level Playing Field
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | September 22, 2025
This OECD chapter explains how tax-benefit systems, education, labor policy, and public services can reduce inequality of opportunity. It frames economic fairness as a matter of giving children and adults more equal chances regardless of family background.
Tax Policy Reforms 2025
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | September 11, 2025
This OECD report reviews tax changes across many countries and discusses how governments use tax policy to raise revenue, support households, and shape inequality. It is useful for understanding economic fairness because tax systems determine who pays, who benefits, and how much money is available for public services.
Scrap Two-Child Benefit Cap to Help Lift 4m People Out of Poverty, Government Urged
| Patrick Butler | The Guardian | September 4, 2025
This article reports on a UK Poverty Strategy Commission proposal to abolish the two-child benefit cap and expand welfare support. The commission argues that stronger benefits, housing support, and childcare investment could lift millions of people out of poverty and reduce deep hardship.
South Africa Launches G20 Taskforce to Examine Global Wealth Inequality
| Reuters | Reuters | August 28, 2025
This article reports on South Africa’s launch of a G20 taskforce focused on global wealth inequality. The taskforce, chaired by Joseph Stiglitz, is described as part of an effort to examine how inequality harms growth, poverty reduction, and international cooperation.
How a Work-Based Policy Package Can Reduce U.S. Poverty
| Kelly Werner and Colleagues | Urban Institute | August 2025]
This report models a package of policies including transitional jobs, a higher minimum wage, expanded tax credits, child care support, SSI changes, and Social Security reforms. It argues that combining work supports with income supports can reduce poverty more effectively than relying on any single policy.
Yes, Cash Transfers Work
| The Atlantic | The Atlantic | August 30, 2025
This article defends cash transfers as an effective anti-poverty tool while acknowledging that they are not a cure-all. It argues that cash assistance helps families meet basic needs, reduces immediate hardship, and works best when paired with broader investments in housing, health care, childcare, and jobs.
Twelve Million Kenyans to Benefit From a New Social Protection Project
| World Bank | World Bank | July 17, 2025
This World Bank announcement describes a major social protection project in Kenya aimed at strengthening human capital and economic inclusion. It focuses on helping poor and vulnerable households access support, jobs, and services that can reduce poverty over time.
The 10 Worst Policies for Equitable Economic Growth in the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Law
| Washington Center for Equitable Growth | Equitable Growth | July 14, 2025
This article criticizes provisions in the 2025 budget reconciliation law that it argues worsen inequality and reduce economic fairness. It focuses on tax cuts benefiting high-income households, weakened social supports, and policy choices that shift resources away from low- and middle-income families.
37,000 More Children Affected by ‘Brutal’ Two-Child Benefit Cap, Data Shows
| Patrick Butler | The Guardian | July 10, 2025
This article reports that nearly 1.7 million children in the United Kingdom are affected by the two-child benefit cap. It explains how the policy reduces benefit payments for larger families and is criticized by anti-poverty groups for pushing children deeper into poverty.
World Bank Urges Aid for Economies in Conflict as U.S. Pushes Cuts
| Andrea Shalal | Reuters | June 27, 2025
This article reports that the World Bank warned fragile and conflict-affected countries are becoming the center of global extreme poverty. It highlights aid, debt relief, jobs, infrastructure, health care, and education as necessary tools for reducing poverty in crisis-affected economies.
Poverty and Inequality: Government at a Glance 2025
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | June 19, 2025
This OECD article explains how governments use progressive taxes, benefits, public services, and cash transfers to reduce poverty and inequality. It places poverty reduction within the broader goal of ensuring economic opportunity, household security, and fairer distribution of resources.
World Bank Supports Morocco’s Commitment to Advancing Social Safety Nets for Human Development
| World Bank | World Bank | June 19, 2025
This article reports on World Bank financing to support Morocco’s social protection reforms. It describes efforts to improve cash transfers, strengthen benefit delivery, and expand support for vulnerable households as part of poverty reduction.
Vibe Teaming to End Extreme Poverty Globally
| Brookings Institution | Brookings Institution | June 17, 2025
This article argues that ending extreme poverty requires new forms of collaboration among governments, researchers, communities, and technology tools. It frames poverty reduction as both a practical policy challenge and a moral obligation.
Transforming Economic Inclusion
| World Bank | World Bank Open Knowledge Repository | June 11, 2025
This World Bank publication examines economic inclusion programs that combine cash, training, coaching, savings, and livelihood support. It highlights how such programs can help very poor households build assets, increase income, and become more resilient to shocks.
We Can Support Work by Helping People, Not Hurting Them
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | June 11, 2025
This article argues that work-support policy should help people afford food, health care, housing, child care, and transportation rather than cutting assistance. It supports policies such as expanding tax credits, raising the minimum wage, and improving access to training and paid leave.
Despite Progress, Child Labour Still Affects 138 Million Children Globally
| UNICEF and International Labour Organization | UNICEF | June 10, 2025
This article reports that child labor remains widespread despite global progress. It connects child labor to poverty and calls for stronger social protection, universal child benefits, education access, and family income support so children are not forced into work.
2025 Budget Impacts: House Bill Would Cut Assistance for Children, Raise Costs for Families
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | June 6, 2025
This article analyzes how proposed federal budget changes would affect children and low-income families. It argues that cuts to food assistance, health coverage, and income supports would increase hardship while shifting costs onto families already struggling with poverty.
Staying the Course: The Role of Gender Equality in Fostering Poverty Reduction and Economic Development
| Brookings Institution | Brookings Institution | June 4, 2025
This article argues that gender equality is central to reducing poverty and strengthening economic development. It highlights women’s economic participation, access to education, financial inclusion, and labor rights as key parts of a fairer economy.
What Works to Reduce Child Poverty? Insights From Across the Globe
| UNICEF Data | UNICEF | May 20, 2025
This article reviews global examples of policies that reduce child poverty, including cash transfers, child benefits, education, nutrition, and social services. It emphasizes that child poverty can be reduced when governments combine income support with investments in children’s development.
Unconditional Cash Transfers: Key Lessons from 115 Studies
| VoxDev | VoxDev | May 16, 2025
This article summarizes a large review of 115 studies on unconditional cash transfers. It finds that direct cash assistance can improve consumption, income, child health, education, and other social outcomes, making cash transfers a major tool for poverty reduction in low- and middle-income countries.
How Commuters With Low Incomes Use Public Transit and How One City Expanded Ridership
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | May 16, 2025
This article looks at transportation costs as a barrier to economic security for low-income workers. It explains how improved public transit access can reduce household expenses, expand job access, and support economic mobility.
What Medicaid and Other Safety Net Cuts Could Mean for U.S. Poverty
| Robert Greenstein | Brookings Institution | May 8, 2025
This article explains how proposed cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other safety-net programs could increase poverty and hardship. It frames health coverage and food assistance as essential parts of an anti-poverty system, not separate policy areas.
Changes in the Safety Net Over Recent Decades and Their Impact
| Robert Greenstein | Brookings Institution | May 1, 2025
This article examines how the U.S. safety net has changed over several decades. It argues that programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, refundable tax credits, and housing support have significantly reduced poverty and improved family well-being.
The Federal Minimum Wage Is Officially a Poverty Wage in 2025
[https://www.epi.org/blog/the-federal-minimum-wage-is-officially-a-poverty-wage-in-2025/
| Sebastian Martinez Hickey | Economic Policy Institute | April 28, 2025]
This article argues that the federal minimum wage has fallen so far behind the cost of living that full-time minimum-wage work no longer keeps a worker above poverty. It presents raising the wage floor as a basic anti-poverty and economic fairness measure.
Improving Economic Outcomes for Single Mothers and Their Children Across the United States
| Washington Center for Equitable Growth | Equitable Growth | April 16, 2025
This article argues that helping single mothers is central to improving economic fairness and child well-being. It emphasizes that tax policy, child care, paid leave, wages, and public investment can improve economic security for millions of families.
The Impact of the Raise the Wage Act of 2025
| Economic Policy Institute | Economic Policy Institute | April 8, 2025
This fact sheet estimates how many workers would benefit from the Raise the Wage Act of 2025. It argues that gradually increasing the federal minimum wage would lift earnings for millions of low-paid workers and reduce poverty-level wages.
State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge
| World Bank | World Bank Open Knowledge Repository | April 7, 2025
This World Bank report explains that billions of people still lack adequate social protection. It lays out policy actions for expanding coverage, improving benefit adequacy, making systems more resilient to shocks, and financing social protection in ways that reduce poverty.
Job Quality, Social Protection, and Connectivity: Key Dimensions for Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in Latin America
| United Nations Development Programme | UNDP | April 2, 2025
This article describes a multidimensional poverty index for Latin America that includes job quality, social protection, internet connectivity, and housing. It shows that poverty is not only about income, but also about insecure work, lack of services, and barriers to participation.
Policy Levers to Support Single-Mother Economic Mobility
| Elaine Waxman and Colleagues | Urban Institute | April 2025
This report identifies policies that can improve economic mobility for single mothers and their children. It discusses child care, education, workforce development, income supports, housing, health care, and tax credits as tools for reducing poverty among families headed by single mothers.
Financial Pathways Toward Greater Resilience: The State of Economic Inclusion Report 2024
| World Bank | World Bank Open Knowledge Repository | March 24, 2025
This World Bank report examines economic inclusion programs that combine cash, training, coaching, savings, and livelihood support to help poor households build income and assets. It describes how governments are scaling these programs to reduce poverty, strengthen resilience, and create job opportunities for vulnerable communities.
Income Inequality, Food Aid, and ‘Zero Hunger’: Evaluating Effectiveness During Lula’s Administration
| Bo Wu | arXiv | March 20, 2025
This study examines Brazil’s Zero Hunger program and its relationship to income inequality and food security. It argues that food aid and anti-poverty policy can reduce inequality when they provide meaningful income security and target families facing hunger.
Social Protection Has a Strong Impact on the Reduction of Inequalities
| International Labour Organization | ILO | March 17, 2025
This article reports on ILO research finding that higher social protection spending is associated with lower income inequality. It argues that pensions, income supports, and other social protection benefits can reduce inequality while improving health and economic security.
Investing in Housing: Unlocking Economic Mobility for Black Families and All Americans
This report examines how the housing affordability crisis limits economic mobility, especially for Black families and lower-income households. It argues that expanding access to stable, affordable housing can reduce poverty, improve family finances, and help close racial wealth and opportunity gaps.
Unemployment Dips in Latin America in 2024, but Inequality Gap Grows, ILO Says
| Reuters | Reuters | February 12, 2025
This article reports that unemployment fell in Latin America and the Caribbean while inequality remained a serious problem. It links economic unfairness to low-quality jobs, informal work, gender gaps, and unstable income, showing that employment growth alone does not guarantee poverty reduction.
Unconditional Cash Transfers for Families With Children in the United States
| H. Shah and Colleagues | National Library of Medicine | 2025
This review examines evidence on unconditional cash aid for families with children in the United States. It discusses how cash transfers can improve economic stability, support family investment in children, and help researchers understand the long-term effects of direct income support.
Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Family Processes and Economic Hardship
| Katherine A. Magnuson and Colleagues | National Library of Medicine | 2025
This study evaluates a randomized cash transfer program for mothers with infants and low incomes. It examines how regular monthly cash affects hardship, family stress, and child development conditions, contributing to the debate over guaranteed income and child poverty reduction.
Cash or In-Kind Transfers: Which Social Safety Net Has a Greater Effect on Vulnerability to Poverty?
| B. Msuha | Cogent Economics & Finance | 2025
This article compares cash-based and in-kind social protection programs in Tanzania. It finds that both forms of assistance can improve welfare and reduce vulnerability to poverty, while suggesting that cash transfers may produce larger gains for poor households.
The Evolving Fight Over Giving People Cash, Explained
This article reviews the debate over universal basic income, guaranteed income pilots, and cash-transfer research. It explains that cash programs can reduce hardship and give recipients flexibility, but also notes that poverty is shaped by structural problems such as housing costs, childcare access, and low wages.
Mind the Gap: Coverage, Adequacy, and Financing Gaps in Social Protection for the World’s Poorest
| Emil Daniel Tesliuc and Colleagues | World Bank Open Knowledge Repository | 2025
This World Bank publication examines gaps in social protection coverage, benefit adequacy, and financing in developing economies. It argues that expanding and improving social protection is necessary to reduce poverty among households that remain excluded or under-supported.
Make Aid Go Further — Give Cash First in Crises
| Kate Holloway | ODI Global | 2025
This policy brief argues that humanitarian aid should use cash assistance more often because it gives people flexibility and can support local economies. It presents cash-first crisis response as a way to reduce hardship while making limited aid resources stretch further.
How Increasing Wages for Low-Paid Workers Supports Financial Stability and Well-Being
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | 2025
This article examines how local and state minimum wage increases affect low-paid workers. It argues that higher wages can reduce financial stress, improve household stability, and help workers better afford basic needs.
An Expanded Child Tax Credit Could Help Low-Income Families Facing Material Hardships
This brief examines how expanding the Child Tax Credit could help low-income families who struggle to afford food, rent, utilities, medical care, and child-related expenses. It presents the credit as a direct way to reduce child poverty and material hardship.
Chart Book: SNAP Helps Struggling Families Put Food on the Table
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | November 25, 2024
This article explains how SNAP reduces poverty and food insecurity while supporting long-term health and economic outcomes. It emphasizes that food assistance is especially important for children, older adults, disabled people, and working families with low wages.
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | November 19, 2024
This report argues that tax policy should raise adequate revenue, reduce inequality, and support low- and middle-income families. It discusses refundable credits, corporate taxation, and progressive revenue as tools for shared prosperity and economic fairness.
Do the Benefits of the Expanded Child Tax Credit Actually Fade With Time?
| Dylan Matthews | Vox | September 2024
This article reviews evidence on the expanded Child Tax Credit and its effect on child poverty. It discusses research showing that the 2021 expansion sharply reduced child poverty without significantly reducing employment, while also exploring arguments about the long-term benefits and costs of making the program permanent.
House Republican Agendas and Project 2025 Would Increase Poverty and Inequality
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | September 3, 2024
This article argues that proposed federal budget and policy changes would increase poverty by cutting health coverage, child care, food aid, housing support, and other assistance. It frames these proposals as shifting resources toward wealthy households and corporations while weakening supports for poor and working families.
The Minimum Wage Is a Poverty Wage
| Center for American Progress | Center for American Progress | July 24, 2024
This article argues that the federal minimum wage has lost much of its purchasing power since its last increase in 2009. It frames higher wages as an economic fairness issue, noting that a stagnant minimum wage leaves many full-time workers unable to escape poverty.
Proven Policies That End Extreme Poverty and Reduce Inequalities
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | July 17, 2024
This OECD chapter reviews evidence on policies that can reduce poverty and inequality together. It emphasizes tax fairness, social protection, worker formalization, public investment, and targeted development cooperation as tools for building more equal economies.
A Deeply Unfair and Unequal Country: Report Warns of Unprecedented Far-Right Gains in UK
| Michael Savage | The Guardian | June 30, 2024
This article reports on a Fairness Foundation warning that inequality in the United Kingdom threatens social cohesion and democracy. It discusses proposals such as abolishing the two-child benefit cap, strengthening Universal Credit, and creating broader policies to reduce poverty and inequality.
Expiration of Pandemic Relief Led to Record Increases in Poverty and Child Poverty in 2022
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | June 10, 2024
This article explains how the expiration of pandemic-era relief programs, including the expanded Child Tax Credit, contributed to sharp increases in poverty and child poverty. It argues that public policy choices directly shaped poverty rates and that stronger income supports could reduce economic hardship.
Tackle Poverty’s Roots With a Living Income, Put Children First and Tax the Wealth of the 1%
| Letters | The Guardian | April 2, 2024
This article collects responses to proposals for reducing poverty in the United Kingdom. Contributors argue for a living income, stronger child poverty policy, expanded public services, and wealth taxation as ways to address root causes rather than relying on emergency charity.
Minimum Wage Is UK’s ‘Most Successful Economic Policy in a Generation’
| Phillip Inman | The Guardian | March 27, 2024
This article reports on research describing the United Kingdom’s minimum wage as one of the country’s most successful recent economic policies. It explains how minimum wage increases boosted pay for low-wage workers, reduced wage inequality, and became a major tool for improving economic fairness.
Advancing Equity Through Tax Reform
| U.S. Department of the Treasury | U.S. Department of the Treasury | March 11, 2024
This report explains how tax policy can be used to reduce poverty, expand opportunity, and narrow income and wealth gaps. It discusses proposals aimed at ensuring wealthy households and large corporations pay a fairer share while using revenue to support low- and middle-income families.
1.4 Billion Children Globally Missing Out on Basic Social Protection, According to Latest Data
| UNICEF, ILO, and Save the Children | UNICEF | February 14, 2024
This article reports that 1.4 billion children worldwide lack basic social protection. It argues that child benefits and family income supports are essential anti-poverty tools, especially in low-income countries where coverage remains extremely limited.
What Constitutes a Living Wage? A Guide to Using EPI’s Family Budget Calculator
| Elise Gould, Zane Mokhiber, and Katherine deCourcy | Economic Policy Institute | January 31, 2024
This report explains how living wage calculations differ from the official poverty line. It shows that many families need far more than poverty-level income to afford housing, food, transportation, health care, child care, and other basic needs.
Poverty Rose in 2022, But Policy Solutions Can Create a More Equitable Economy
| Arohi Pathak and Kyle Ross | Center for American Progress | September 12, 2023
This article analyzes the rise in U.S. poverty after pandemic-era supports expired. It argues that refundable tax credits, stronger nutrition assistance, housing support, and better wages can reduce poverty and build a fairer economy.
The Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit on Low-Income Families in the United States
| Washington Center for Equitable Growth | Equitable Growth | August 2, 2023
This article summarizes research showing that the expanded Child Tax Credit reduced hardship among low-income families. It discusses how families used the monthly payments for bills, food, rent, school supplies, diapers, and other basic needs.
The Antipoverty Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit Across States
| The Hamilton Project | Brookings Institution | March 1, 2023
This article analyzes how the 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit reduced child poverty across U.S. states. It highlights the program’s role in producing a historic decline in child poverty and shows how refundable tax credits can be powerful tools for poverty reduction.
Child Poverty Fell to Record Low 5.2% in 2021
| Kalee Burns, Liana Fox, and Danielle Wilson | U.S. Census Bureau | September 13, 2022
This Census Bureau article reports that child poverty, measured by the Supplemental Poverty Measure, fell to a record low in 2021. It explains that the expanded Child Tax Credit and other pandemic-era supports played a major role in reducing child poverty and helping families meet basic needs.
Reducing Poverty Without Community Displacement: Indicators of Inclusive Prosperity in U.S. Neighborhoods
| Hanna Love and Tracy Hadden Loh | Brookings Institution | September 13, 2022
This article studies U.S. neighborhoods that reduced concentrated poverty without displacing existing residents. It argues that inclusive prosperity requires improving economic conditions while protecting communities from displacement and rising housing costs.
Child Tax Credit Has a Critical Role in Helping Families Maintain Economic Stability
| Bradley L. Hardy | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | April 14, 2022
This article explains how an expanded, monthly, and fully refundable Child Tax Credit can reduce poverty and material hardship. It emphasizes that families with low incomes use such support to stabilize basic needs, not as a replacement for work.
The Evolution of Global Poverty, 1990–2030
| Homi Kharas and Meagan Dooley | Brookings Institution | February 2, 2022
This article reviews long-term global poverty trends and explains how poverty reduction has slowed after decades of progress. It discusses the importance of growth, public policy, global cooperation, and targeted efforts in countries where extreme poverty remains concentrated.
Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 by 2025 Would Lift the Pay of 32 Million Workers
| David Cooper, Zane Mokhiber, and Ben Zipperer | Economic Policy Institute | March 9, 2021
This article argues that raising the federal minimum wage would reduce poverty-level wages and improve economic fairness for millions of workers. It emphasizes that many beneficiaries would be workers of color and workers unable to work from home, showing how wage policy intersects with racial and economic inequality.
