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The attributional process, defined as the process of inferring the causes of the events that surround individuals in their daily lives, can potentially shape the understanding of poverty and wealth. For instance, it might influence how people behave, what they expect from poor and wealthy groups in their society, and how they judge them. However, the existing measures that capture these attributional phenomena have several limitations. Some attributional factors lack empirical support, or some implemented items lack relevance in contemporary society. Therefore, the present study is aimed to deepen the understanding of the attributional process by reviewing the factor structure of the poverty () and wealth attribution scales (), as well as adapting and verifying the validity of these scales among the Mexican population. To do so, we revised the factor structure of the poverty and wealth attribution scales to create a unified scale. We back-translated the original items, conducted exploratory and confirmatory analyses, restructured the scale’s factors, and related them with other covariates. Our results indicate that these scales uniquely differentiate between internal and external attributions, demonstrating that the new factor structure is better for measuring attributional processes regarding the perceived causes of poverty and wealth than those used in previous research.
Advocacy coalitions have played an increasingly critical role in evidence-based policy development. Despite this, little is known about how such coalitions leverage research to influence policy. Addressing this gap, this qualitative study explores how a multi-sectoral advocacy coalition seeks to shape Canadian food security policy through ‘solutions-focused advocacy’. We explore four of the coalition’s strategies: (1) shaping policymakers’ thinking and priorities while responding to governments’ needs; (2) utilising research to help governments achieve political ‘wins’ while advancing the cause; (3) using research to broker relationships between ‘community’, government, and the coalition; and (4) mobilising research to ‘bring the sector along’.
Menstrual poverty has become a global issue, affecting women who do not have access to the menstrual products they need. Most of the related literature is based on low- and middle-income countries’ facts and experiences. Using the 2020 Youth Survey in Barcelona, this cross-sectional study provides novel data on the prevalence and the factors associated with menstrual poverty in an urban context (Barcelona) in a high-income country (Spain) with a randomly selected representative sample of 700 young women aged 15 to 34. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used in the analysis. Results show that 15.3 per cent of young women in Barcelona reported facing financial barriers to accessing menstrual products. Further, those young women with a high level of material deprivation (OR=4.42; CI=2.14–9.16) have a greater probability of suffering from menstrual poverty, whereas those living independently from their parents (OR=0.50; CI=0.28–0.90) and women with a non-EU origin (Latin-Americans: OR=0.54; CI=0.31–0.93; Others: OR=0.06; CI=0.01–0.46) have a lower probability of reporting menstrual poverty. Our findings advocate that the measurement of poverty should consider individual aspects and needs, and not only the household income level as the reference. Further, we would encourage rethinking poverty measurement with a gender perspective, as well as identifying how deprivations overlap to aggravate the experience of poverty.
Critics of Universal Basic Income (UBI) have claimed that it would be either unaffordable or inadequate. This discussion paper tests this claim by examining the distributional impacts of three UBI schemes broadly designed to provide pathways to attainment of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). We use microsimulation of data from the Family Resources Survey to outline the static distributional impacts and costs of the schemes. Our key finding is that even the fiscally neutral starter scheme would reduce child poverty to the lowest level achieved since 1961 and achieve more than the anti-poverty interventions of the New Labour Governments from 2000. The more generous schemes would make further inroads into the UK’s high levels of poverty and inequality, but at greater cost. We conclude by assessing fiscal strategies to reduce the up-front deficit of higher schemes, providing a more positive assessment of affordability and impact than critics have assumed.
This article aims at contributing to the current literature on poverty data limitations and measurement by discussing the process for producing the first multidimensional poverty measure based on the consensual approach for the City of Buenos Aires. The results show a remarkable level of consensus about the necessities of life in the twenty-first century, underline the importance of generating more suitable indicators of deprivation and show that unmet basic needs-type variables are no longer adequate for measuring poverty in countries like Argentina. According to the valid and reliable poverty index, 20.3% of the city’s population live in households in multidimensionally poor households, this being the social dimension that shows the highest deprivation rate.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, food insecurity was rising steadily and attracting growing concern across the UK. Young people are disproportionately more exposed to food insecurity because of their higher risks of poverty, destitution and homelessness, and because of discriminations in the labour market and social security system. Despite this, very little is known about youth food insecurity in the UK, where the assumption that young people can rely on parental support prevails. This article draws on qualitative interviews with 13 young people, aged 18–26, conducted during the height of nationwide lockdowns in Edinburgh and London in 2020. By engaging with young people from a range of circumstances, this article provides important insights into experiences of youth food insecurity. It finds that while youth food insecurity stems from the familiar trigger of low income, young people are not only more exposed to this risk, but also encounter additional risks linked to being young, including leaving home for the first time. Similarly, this article illustrates that while people of all ages generally prefer to manage their food insecurity independently due to the stigma attached to food insecurity, notions of independence seem particularly important to the young people and their narratives of emerging adulthood in this study, with implications for their (dis)engagement with support. The findings challenge ingrained policy assumptions about young people, and suggest a need for significant policy activity around youth food insecurity, which has been troublingly overlooked in the UK.
