The authors of this paper argue that the COVID-19 recovery provides an opportunity to support social, financial and digital inclusion.

This report highlights the critical role played by all Geelong Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) members, over the past 18 months, in addressing the issues of financial stress and hardship affecting the local communities.

Technology can unlock further, much-needed support for people in the community who are struggling to get by, but it needs to be targetted in the right place. Nesta believes that partnerships can be part of the solution to support those financially excluded in UK society.

This plan identifies eight key shifts and policy action related to each shift that will tackle the long-term challenges facing the New Zealand economy. They signal the government's goal to balance outcomes across financial, human, natural and social capital, and will act as an overarching...

This report, commissioned by the Australian Council of Social Service, considers the impact of boosting a range of allowance payments. It finds that the introduction of such a policy would have a range of ‘prosperity effects’, boosting the size of the economy and the number...

To understand why people on low incomes do or do not take out insurance we need to understand their overall financial circumstances and the multiple risks they face.

Looks at the number and structure of jobless households in New Zealand, and examines some of the characteristics of the individuals living in these households.

The Department of the Treasury (Australia) has developed the CAPITA model, a general-purpose, static microsimulation model, which is used to analyse the combined effect of changes to personal income tax and transfer policy on families with different income levels, family structures and living arrangements.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has released this report that shows Australia is at risk of becoming an Americanised society of working poor if people are not given a pay rise.

This paper estimates an Inequality Deflator for the Australian economy, which represents the distributional trade-offs that exist within the current tax and transfer system.

This report examines changes in the cost of living over the past quarter and the past year in the Northern Territory, with a particular focus on cost of living pressures for vulnerable and disadvantaged Territorians.

This report proposes a new scheme, ‘Social Emergency Lending,’ to help Australian households under financial stress borrow money at very low interest rates.

This trial of smart home control in 46 households shows limits to use for managing home energy bills and electricity demand.

John Quiggin looks at if we will have to learn to live in a patrimonial society?

A major economics conference wound up talking about the topic on everyone else’s lips, writes Tim Colebatch.

This brief draws mainly on OECD data from 1980-2014 and on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data about social security payments to households.

This research presents evidence on how housing policies might promote labour force participation and economic growth through four channels - housing supply responsiveness, labour mobility, employment decisions and consumption.

In the context of energy reforms to address peak electricity demand in Australia, this briefing paper provides a critical review of cost-reflective electricity pricing policy and the potential impacts of heatwaves and other extreme heat events in vulnerable households.

This research investigated the relationship between increasing housing prices (or housing wealth) and the increased consumption expenditure of households from before the GFC and afterwards.

This paper provides an analysis of how the New Zealand tax system may be affecting residential property markets

This paper provides a basis for a broader understanding of the factors that shape financial wellbeing and the capacity of individuals to experience economic security.

Australian households have faced sharp increases in energy prices over the past decade. Household water bills have also increased. Higher numbers of households are experiencing electricity and/or gas disconnections due to non-payment of bills and joining energy retailer hardship programs to remain connected. As a...

Australia’s retirement income system has long implicitly taken it for granted that the vast majority of retired people will have very low housing costs – in turn reflecting a presumption that most of them will own their own homes, and will have fully paid down...

As is the case in most developed countries, the population of New Zealand is ageing numerically and structurally. Population ageing can have important effects on the distribution of personal income within and between urban areas. The age structure of the population may affect the distribution...

This background paper explains why families in Aotearoa New Zealand need a much more robust system of tax credit supports, as well as higher wages. New Zealand was once a model for other countries to follow in regard to its egalitarianism. Today, there is high...