ESRC funded research reveals unexpected national differences in privacy regulations

An ESRC funded study conducted by Professor Andreas Busch of Oxford University has found that the regulation of personal data varies greatly across countries and sectors. Carried out in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Sweden, the research suggests that privacy regulation is highly dependent on context specific factors and particular institutional arrangements: Click here for more.

Report on Poverty and Inequality in the UK

A new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on Poverty and Inequality in the UK (supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) for the period 1997-2011 finds that although income inequality increased during the New Labour period it would have increased further without discretionary changes to taxes and benefits; the increase in inequality was also much smaller than the rise in inequality during the 1980s. While recent changes to the tax and benefit system may reduce income inequality by hitting those on high incomes hardest, the report finds that new cuts to benefits and tax credits are likely to counter this and increase inequality on an ongoing basis: http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm118.pdf

New report on young people and alcohol infleunces

A new report by the Joseph Rountree Foundation finds that young people are more likely to drink frequently and to excess if they receive less supervision from an adult; spend a lot of time with friends or friends that drink; are exposed to a family member, particularly a parent, who drinks; have positive attitudes towards/ expectations of alcohol; have easy access to alcohol. Read report in full here.

Support the Campaign for Social Science

Support the campaign for Social Science, which has just reached its first fundraising milestone of £50,000. The campaign has already attracted great some sponsors: see http://www.campaignforsocialscience.org.uk.

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