From soaring housing and food costs, crushing student loan debt, and compounding energy crises, the economic forces shaping our everyday lives are impossible to ignore. But understanding their wider impact—and finding ways to respond—requires looking beyond the headlines.
Across our diverse author communities, researchers are examining these challenges from multiple perspectives, bringing to light the structures and inequalities that fuel them and exploring ways to create meaningful change.
To coincide with the 2026 ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, we’ve brought together a selection of essential reading on these topics from across our catalogues, including issues that matter most around the kitchen table, in our communities, and in public debate—and they’re free to read for the entire month of the festival!
Poverty, Food, and the Cost-of-living Crisis
Preventing Food Poverty: Light at the End of the Tunnel?
'Homeless' and the Cost-of-Living Crisis in The Guardian and MailOnline: A Corpus-Assisted Analysis
A Canary in the Mine: School Food Reform in England
Child Poverty: Concepts and Measurement
Women's Perspectives on Poverty
Welfare Chauvinism: Are Immigrants Granted Access to Welfare State Benefits?
Debt, Housing, and Household Finances
The Income and Wealth Effects of Student Loan Debt
Choosing between Fixed- and Adjustable-Rate
A Short History of the Basic Income Idea
Housework and Living Standards in the Literature
Energy Poverty and the Just Transition
Introduction to the Concept of Gender and Energy Poverty
Energy Poverty, Practice, and Inequality
Engendering the Energy Transition: Setting the Scene
Gender, Work, and Economic Inequality
Covid-19 Hit Women's Finances Much Harder Than Men's
Strategies for Gender Mainstreaming in Tech-Driven Agriculture
Neoliberalism and the Myth of Meritocracy
A Political Economy of Lifelong Learning (LLL) for Decent Work and Just Transitions?
Whatever Happened to Health Economics?
Education, Digital Access, and Policy
Follow the Money: How Funding Policies Undermine Inclusive Education in Slovakia
Precarious Negotiations of Space and Identity
This blog is part of the Social Science Matters Campaign, which champions original and authoritative research within the Social Sciences. Find out more by exploring all Social Science Matters blogs or following the Campaign to keep up to date with all the latest news.