Poverty and Place in the US-UK: Comparisons of Experiences and Policy with a Look Toward the Future, September 15–16, 2005, Cambridge, UK

Organizers: Cambridge-MIT Institute’s Competitiveness Forum and supported by [Cambridge University; Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, UK; The Carsey Institute University of New Hampshire, and The Social Science Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University]

Background: Starting in the 1980s, it was increasingly recognized that macro economic growth alone would not reduce the poverty population. Labor market policies, social welfare programs, and certain levels of income subsidy were presumed to be short-term requirements to lift people and places out of economic decline. A sustained period of economic growth in the 1990s did little to counter this belief as poverty rates in the UK and the US increased and the number of persons working but poor in the US grew significantly. With increasing technological change and mobility of capital and employment, what tools are available to combat growing disparities among members of society and among each nation’s communities? To begin to grapple with this and related questions, this conference seeks to uncover evidence about how some of these larger changes influence policy options aimed at addressing place- and people-based poverty and ascertain the potential scope of sharing research and policy experience between the UK and the US.

Conference Format: The conference will be an extended workshop in which participants will have an opportunity to engage in intensive debate and reflection. The conference time will be segmented with slots devoted to seven major thematic issues affecting both UK and US society. It will begin with short concise overview papers about the geographical concentration and sociodemographic composition of poverty in the UK and the US. Subsequent thematic sections will begin with short contributions from experts on current developments in labor markets, the nature of work, the impact of new technology on the location of work and residence, the challenge of meeting basic human needs in the areas of housing and education, the declining role of the state in the provision of certain basic goods, and the changing nature and quality of consumption and their possible impact on the perpetuation of geographic concentrations of poverty.

Graduate Students: 10 paid slots for graduate students. $150 pounds sterling will be provided to cover in-country UK travel costs. Please send a letter of inquiry to Amy Glasmeier and a list of three references.

Contact: Michael Kitson mk24@cam.ac.uk, Cambridge, Judge Institute, Amy Glasmeier akg1@ems.psu.edu, Penn State, or Peter Tyler pt23@hermes.cam.ac.uk, Cambridge.