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Policy & Practice Blog

The latest news, stories, reports, opinion and analysis from Oxfam Policy & Practice staff around the world.

Subject: economics

21 Articles

Showing articles 1-10

Housing for the upper middle class rises above the shacks of the rag picker community in Shanti Busti, Lucknow, India. Credit: Tom Pietrasik/ Oxfam

Why inequality matters

Inequality impacts on the welfare of us all. It affects everything, including social cohesion, the economy, politics, gender relations, environmental concerns and sustainability. NGOs ignore inequality at their peril, thankfully Oxfam has plenty to say about it. ...

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Income tax square on a monopoly board Credit: Money matters

Money or mirage? How to make sure people working on low incomes actually benefit from being taken out of income tax

The Coalition Government's flagship policy on raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 has proven to be both expensive and popular. Its stated purpose is to put more money in the pockets of those with low-income jobs, but will it?. Ben Morgan, Oxfam's UK Poverty Advocacy and Policy Officer, looks at what affect raising the tax threshold will actually have.  ...

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The Great Tax Robbery: How Britain became a tax haven for fat cats and big business, by Richard Brooks

The deep levels of economic pain and austerity that are currently felt by so many people across the UK started in 2007 with the first banking crash. Many have argued that the roots of disaster were laid well before then in a mix of lax financial regulation and unsustainable levels of public spending. However, far too little emphasis has been put on the other reason why public spending became so unsustainable; Britain's legacy of hosting...

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Oxfam workers in Gendrassa camp in South Sudan unload crates containing water pipes and motors that will provide clean water to thousands of refugees. Credit: Alun McDonald/Oxfam

Aid: a musty relic of a bygone age, or a lifesaver needed today?

Ben Phillips gives a personal reflection on the struggle for aid justice and why the time is right to give aid the credit it deserves.   ...

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Twisted rules and land deals

If you had bags full of money and wanted to buy land, where would you go for a good deal? If you're only looking for ways to make a good profit and control your risk exposure, surely you would look for a place where you can influence the terms of the deal. This is the intuition behind the  analysis published yesterday by Oxfam. ...

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The tax clock is ticking… You have until midnight to do your bit to stop UK poverty

Last night I spoke at the Frontline Club, one of the UK's most prominent centres for media and current affairs as part of a debate on inequality and its damaging impacts across the world. The house was packed, and the stories told were worrying but propositional. Time and time again tax was returned to as one of the key solutions to stop middle and upper income countries sliding further into inequality and poverty. ...

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Fishermen carry a boat in Indonesia. Credit: Jim Holmes/Oxfam

Should we (and everyone in Davos) worry about extreme wealth?

First posted on From Poverty to Power, Duncan Green on how we cannot afford to ignore the extreme inequality produced by extreme wealth.  ...

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Rasmalar and her husband harvesting their paddy fields in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka. Credit: Abir Abdullah/ Oxfam

Ensuring small holders aren't squeezed out of agricultural investments

Tipping the Balance, a new joint research report from Oxfam and IIED reveals that current popular policies can tip the balance away from small farmers. How can we ensure small holder farmers get a better deal? ...

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A new era begins when work doesn’t end poverty anymore

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation figures released this week, updating the state of play in poverty and social exclusion in the UK, ring all too true with the experience of people Oxfam works with every day. ...

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Climate change and the other 'fiscal cliff'

If you tuned into coverage of the US election earlier this month, you'll almost certainly have heard talk about an impending 'fiscal cliff' - a term to describe the need for new legislation to get the US economy on track. ...

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