Wednesday's Child: Poverty and inequality

About this video

Wednesday's child is full of woe.

We don't usually post social science subjects but, as the global economic crisis continues, poverty and inequality have become increasingly visible.

With the income gap between the poorest and the richest still widening in the UK many low-income households risk falling back into poverty.

Using the Barbican Centre towers as a model for income distribution, Professor Stephen Jenkins outlines how research can better measure patterns of poverty.

Data from the British Household Panel Survey – rather than the annual figures from the Department of Work and Pensions – allows researchers to map not only the income distribution from top to bottom but also the movement between different levels of poverty.

This 'poverty turnover', the movement of people into and back out of poverty over time, is providing greater insight into creating effective policies to counter the widening gap between rich and poor.

The film forms part of a series from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) linked by the days of the ‘Monday’s Child’ nursery rhyme – a neat way to pull together a wide variety of research topics. 

The series is being featured on the ESRC website and full transcripts are available for each video.