Research into intrahousehold finances chal-lenges key assumptions about the family as a unitary whole, investigates the extent of sharing within it, examines mechanisms of control and allocation of resources, and reveals the personalized nature of different monies. This article presents an overview of research on within-household distribution (understood as both outcome and process). It discusses major questions addressed, including inequalities between (gendered) individuals and the potential reasons for these. It outlines significant developments and debates, within qualitative research in particular, in relation to the unit of analysis (traditionally, the married couple), the texture and meaning of financial dealings within couples, and the tensions between autonomy and equal sharing as values. It then discusses several key methodological challenges, and concludes by highlighting some policy implications of central research messages. Throughout, it draws on and discusses the other articles in this special section, which explore key methodological issues in researching within-household distribution.''Research on the material aspects of family life is not easy because so much economic behaviour
The 'living wage' is an idea with a long history in the UK currently enjoying a renaissance. This article explores possible reasons for its reemergence as a policy demand, but argues that thinking of low pay primarily as 'poverty pay' caused by employers' failure to pay a living wage raises practical and conceptual issues that are problematic. It examines to what extent recent attempts to resolve such issues in the UK and elsewhere have succeeded, and concludes by suggesting that alternative ways of analysing and addressing the two key issues associated with the living wage, low pay and in work poverty, are required.
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