Institute for Social & Economic Research (ISER)

Inside ISER:

Recession research shows who will be hardest hit

The substantial increase in the numbers of people out of work during the recession will hit ethnic minority groups, young adults and those with poor educational qualifications hardest.

Health

The benefits of breastfeeding for health and illness prevention have been widely recognised. In developing countries, exclusive breastfeeding plays a considerable role in reducing infant deaths. However, the public health importance of breastfeeding in healthy infants in developed countries has rarely been quantified.

Living apart together

Most of us are aware of couples who have a steady relationship, but do not live together. Despite living at different addresses, they are regarded by themselves and others as a couple. This phenomenon has come to be called ‘living apart together’ or LAT for short.

Ethnicity, identity and inequality

Ethnicity, identity and inequality have been the focus of some significant and high profile research at ISER in the last 12 months. Much of the research has not just informed, but led the way in generating wider debate and discussion of these issues.

Survey success

Survey teams hit the streets in January 2009 for the first round of interviews for the UK Household Longitudinal Survey, better known as Understanding Society. This much-awaited new study will collect information annually from across 40,000 UK households and has been described as the most ambitious household survey ever undertaken in the UK.

Home Office research published

Research into criminal and anti-social behaviour carried out by a team including ISER’s Steve Pudney has been published by the Home Office.

Ethnicity and pay gaps

One of the key economic outcomes considered by the NEP was income from employment – or pay. In analysing differences across equalities areas it drew substantially from research carried out by three ISER researchers, Simonetta Longhi, Cheti Nicoletti and Lucinda Platt.

Changing attitudes

Every year the British Social Attitudes survey asks around 3000 people what it’s like to live in Britain and how they think Britain is run. The survey tracks people’s changing social, political and moral attitudes and informs the development of public policy.

Research looks at what makes people move

Married couples are much more likely to move if a woman dislikes a neighbourhood than if her husband does. That is one of the findings from new research at ISER, which also concludes that the decision to move is based more on people’s perceptions of a neighbourhood than the reality.

Managing your money is good for your health

From 2011, five-year-olds will have lessons on how to save money in a piggy bank. When they are at primary school, they will be taught about current and savings accounts and how to budget. In secondary school, the lessons will move on to credit cards, mortgages and loans, with specific warnings about debt.

New research looks at the advice on offer for teenagers

A team of researchers at ISER is looking at the impact that Information Advice and Guidance(IAG) has on the educational and career decisions of teenagers to see if more can be done to help young people make the right choices about their future.

Children of single mums more likely to smoke

Research by a team at ISER shows that the children of single mothers are considerably more likely to smoke as young adults than children who are brought up by both parents.

EUROMOD a unique and remarkable resource

Calls from some European countries recently for closer co-operation on financial and economic policies have generated widespread attention and interest, particularly in the wake of the recent global financial crisis. But for some time now there have also been calls for more ‘policy learning’ across countries in the areas of economic and social policy, especially in relation to the Lisbon Agenda and policies designed to reduce poverty and social inclusion and to promote employment.

ECASS

After 14 years, nearly 500 visits from individuals totalling 22,000 days of access to ISER resources and expertise, ECASS, the European Centre for Analysis in the Social Sciences, said goodbye to the last of its visiting researchers in March.

Social care debate

In most developed countries, population ageing is associated with increasing need for social care for disabled older people. Consequently, reform of the social care system is one of the biggest policy issues facing the UK and other countries. ISER researchers Richard Berthoud, Ruth Hancock and Steve Pudney are making a significant contribution to the policy debate on disability benefit and social care, with support from the ESRC, Nuffield Foundation, Department for Work and Pensions and Age UK (formerly Age Concern and Help the Aged).

Picking a partner – a reflection of society?

Are we more open socially nowadays than we used to be? If so, we might expect our choice of marriage partners to be more diverse. If, on the other hand, the rich are still marrying the rich and the less educated are still marrying the less educated, what does that tell us about society now and what implications does it have for the future?

From cradle to grave – inequality report calls for major policy reform

The recently-published report by the National Equality Panel argues that policy interventions are needed at each life cycle stage to counter the way economic inequalities are reinforced over people’s lives and often on to the next generation.

Effects of divorce on children

Measuring the effect of divorce on children is challenging because it is impossible to know how children would have fared in the absence of their parents’ divorce. The social sciences have however made considerable progress in doing so. ISER’s John Ermisch has been at the forefront of research in this area.

Life chances in Europe: comparative research across the ‘new Europe’

ISER has a long track record in comparative research, but the last 12 months has seen a team of researchers embarking on new wide-ranging and highly innovative cross-national project.

Children are focus of major new study

ISER academics are playing a key role in a major new study that will explore the differences in opportunities and achievements between children of well off and disadvantaged parents.