Why Poverty Persists and How to Fix it

Why Poverty Persists and How to Change it

Keetie Roelen

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9781805461753
• eBook ISBN:
  9781805461760
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Social Sciences

'An important and necessary book' - Roman Krznaric

'This urgent book gives us renewed hope' - Natasha Carthew

Despite being a focal point of Labour's 2024 election campaign, poverty continues to rise. It's now been 20 years since a prolonged decrease in poverty rates, with 14.3 million people and 31% of UK children living in poverty in 2025. Fixing inequality has never been more urgent.

In this eye-opening book, expert and host of the Poverty Unpacked podcast Keetie Roelen argues that empathy -not policy alone - is the missing ingredient in the fight against poverty. She takes readers inside poverty's lived experience across the social spectrum, explores the latest ideas and programmes to combat it across the globe, and arms readers with the information needed to enact lasting social change.

'If you want to understand the reality of poverty, start by reading this book' - Olivier De Schutter

'A stellar piece of work from a seasoned researcher' - Mary O'Hara

'A unique, sensitively-crafted and much-needed book' - Sarah P Corbett

Previously published as The Empathy Fix.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Note from the Author
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Getting to Grips with Empathy
• Chapter 2 Cognitive Costs and Poverty Premiums
• Chapter 3 Caught in the Web of Shame
• Chapter 4 Aspiring to Brighter Futures
• Chapter 5 The Other Side of the Coin
• Chapter 6 A Nudge in the Wrong Direction
• Chapter 7 Self-Helping Your Way Up and Out
• Chapter 8 The Bigger Picture
• Chapter 9 Small Actions, Big Change
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Notes