Poverty & Policy Working Group
Poverty & Policy Working Group
A cross-university working group that meets regularly to discuss issues related to poverty, policy, and related topics.
A cross-university working group that meets regularly to discuss issues related to poverty, policy, and related topics.
The Poverty & Policy Working Group (PPWG) unites researchers across different institutions to discuss work related to poverty, public policy, and similar topics. The PPWG meets monthly via Zoom to present and receive feedback on research, to test out new ideas that are currently in development, and engage on topics related to poverty and social policy.
The PPWG is particularly interested in discussing research related to the measurement, causes, and consequences of poverty. Studies of particular interest to the PPWG, for example, might cover the strengths and weaknesses of the at-risk-of-poverty measure in defining the most vulnerable populations; the role of public policy versus demographic change in shaping trends in poverty; the consequences of external shocks, such as a pandemic or labour market collapse, for poverty and hardship outcomes; the consequences of exposure to poverty over the life course; or other topics with a broadly similar focus.
While the PPWG tends to cover issues of poverty and policy in high-income countries, and in Europe especially, the group invites contributors performing research related to any geographic region and contributors from peer disciplines, such as development economics or similar. Papers to be presented within the PPWG are not restricted to a particular methodology (e.g. quantitative vs. qualitative research) or geographic focus, so long as they align with the PPWG’s general research focus. The PPWG is interdisciplinary and includes economists, political scientists, sociologists, social policy scholars, and researchers from other disciplines at different career stages.
How to Join: To join the Policy & Policy Working Group, complete this form here (also at the bottom of this page) to register your interest. Soon after, you will be added to a specific mailing list that provides information on each of the upcoming meetings.
Meeting Formats: Each meeting will last approximately one hour and will be dedicated to discussing the research of the week's presenter. The presenter can choose among three different formats:
Presentation of research + discussion: This is a standard seminar format, which includes a 30-40 minute presentation with slides followed by 20-30 minute discussion among the full group.
Paper feedback session: Rather than presenting slides, the presenter submits his/her paper to the group at least one week in advance. The group reads the paper, then spends the hour providing feedback on the paper for the presenter.
Brainstorming session: This is a less-structured session in which the presenter shares ideas for a paper or grant, discusses some tricky questions in the literature, or similar, with the purpose of testing or generating ideas before converting them to written work
The coordinating committee of the Poverty & Policy Working Group consists of:
Zachary Parolin (Bocconi University)
Roxana-Diana Burciu (Bocconi University)
Clemente Pignatti (Bocconi University)
Maria Vaalavuo (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)
Selçuk Bedük (Oxford University)
Daniel Edmiston (Leeds University)