The Center documents poverty, hardship, and institutional failure in the world’s wealthiest countries — and connects stories usually reported in isolation into sustained, evidence-led argument. Every piece states its position, shows its sources, and answers its strongest critics.
Latest NotesShort, argued responses to developing stories
All notes →Food banks are becoming part of the British safety net
Charitable food aid has become part of how a growing share of British households get by, a sign that incomes and benefits no longer cover the basics.
Medical debt is a system of household exposure, not personal failure
Medical debt in the United States is a mass, structural condition that reaches insured as well as uninsured households, not a story of individual misfortune.
Britain’s inquiries are becoming records of recurrence
Britain’s public inquiries document institutional failure in exhaustive detail, but their recommendations are implemented slowly and partially, leaving the same failures free to recur.
Research Programs
All programs →Poverty & Living Standards
Income, deprivation, and material hardship in the world's wealthiest countries.
Health & Affordability
Access to care, medical debt, and the cost of staying well.
Work & Wages
Unemployment, insecure work, and pay that no longer covers the basics.
Education
Unequal schooling, student debt, and the narrowing paths to opportunity.
Cost of Living & Housing
Rents, homelessness, energy bills, and the prices households cannot avoid.
Corruption & Institutional Failure
When public institutions fail the people they exist to serve.