Part of the Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy series, this is a timely overview of learnings to date and future prospects for research in an area of fast increasing significance - minimum income standards.

Research into minimum income standards around the world is compared and contrasted in this illuminating collection from leading academics in the field.

From countries where budget standards research is long established to places where it is relatively new, contributors set out the different aims and objectives of investigations into the basic needs of populations, and the historical contexts, theoretical frameworks and methodological issues that lie behind each.

For policy-makers, practitioners and social policy and poverty researchers and academics, this is a timely overview of learnings to date and future prospects for research in an area of fast increasing significance.