Scientia Prof Peter Saunders

Overview

Peter Saunders was the Director of the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) from February 1987 until July 2007, and now holds a Research Chair in Social Policy within the Centre. His research interests include poverty and income distribution, household needs and living standards, social security reform, comparative social policy and ageing and social protection in China. His recent books include The Ends and Means of Welfare. Coping with Economic and Social Change in Australia (Cambridge University Press, 2002), The Poverty Wars, Reconnecting Research with Reality and (with James Walter) Ideas and Influence. Social Science and Public Policy in Australia (both published by UNSW Press in 2005). He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1995, and is currently an Australian Professorial Fellow working on the concepts and measurement of poverty and inequality, and on deprivation and social exclusion in Australia. He has worked as a consultant for a range of national and international organisations, including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the OECD, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank, the International Social Security Association, and the Royal Commission on Social Policy in New Zealand. He was appointed a Sciential Professor by UNSW in 2006, in recognition of his research contribution and eminence. He was elected President of the Foundation for international Studies on Social Security (FISS) in June 2009. Professor Saunders was elected as the inaugural President of the Australian Social Policy Association.

Research Summary

Current Research

Teaching

HDR supervision
Professor Peter Saunders is keen to supervise PhD candidates with an interest in social policy, measurement, causes and consequences of poverty; budget standards and household needs; income distribution and economic inequality; economic aspects of social security; social policy and the welfare state; comparative social policy, including in OECD and East Asian countries; public finance, including taxation policy and the role of government in the economy; international comparisons of government size and economic performance.

Professor Saunders currently supervises: Sherman Chan, Bob Davidson, Peter Davidson, Ji-Sun (Sunny) Kim, Yuvisthi Naidoo, Gerry Redmond and Cathy Thomson.

Publications

Recent Books
Saunders, P.(forthcoming), Down and Out: Poverty and Exclusion in Australia, The Policy Press, Bristol.

Saunders P. and Sainsbury R. (eds.) (2010), Social Security, Poverty and Social Exclusion in Rich and Poor Countries. Fifteenth International Research Seminar on Issues in Social Security, Insentia Publishing.

Saunders, P. (2005), The Poverty Wars: Reconnecting Research with Reality, UNSW Press.

Saunders, P. (ed) (2005), Welfare to Work in Practice. Social Security and Participation in Economic and Social Life, International Studies on Social Security, Volume 10, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005.

Saunders, P. and Walter, J. (eds.) (2005), Ideas and Influence. Social Science and Public Policy in Australia.

Saunders, P. and Taylor, R., (eds.) (2002), The Price of Prosperity: The Economic and Social Costs of Unemployment, UNSW Press.

Saunders, P. (2002), The Ends and Means of Welfare: Coping with Economic and Social Change in Australia, Cambridge University Press.

Recent Book Chapters
Saunders, P. (2010), 'Inequality and poverty', in, Castles, F., Leibfried, S., Lewis, J., Obinger H., and Pierson, C., The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Social Policy, Oxford University Press, 526-38.

Saunders, P., (2010), 'Deprivation, social exclusion and social security in Australia', in Saunders P. and Sainsbury R. (eds.), Social Security, Poverty and Social Exclusion in Rich and Poor Countries. Fifteenth International Research Seminar on Issues in Social Security, Insentia Publishing, 155-171.

Saunders, P., (2009), ‘Income support for families and the living standards of children’, in Kamerman S. B., Phipps S and Ben-Arieh A., From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being: Children’s Well-being: Indicators and Research Vol. 1, Springer, Netherlands, 275-292.

Recent Journal Articles
Saunders, P., ‘Identifying the material and non-material ingredients of the good life’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 45 (1), 53-69.

Saunders, P. and Abe, A. (2010), 'Poverty and deprivation in young and old: a comparative study of Australia and Japan', Poverty & Public Policy, 2 (1), 67-97.

Saunders, P., and Naidoo, Y. (2009), ‘Poverty, deprivation and consistent poverty’, The Economic Record, 85 (271), 417-432.

Saunders, P.. and Wu H. (2009), ‘Measuring growth, productivity, income distribution and poverty in transition economies: progress, challenges and prospects’, Review of Income and Wealth, Special Issue: Experiences and Challenges in Measuring National Income and Wealth in Transition Economies, 55 (1), 413-422.

Saunders, P.. and Zhu, A. (2009), ‘Comparing disadvantage and well-being in Australian families’, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 12 (1), 21-39.

Saunders, P. and Hill, T. (2008), 'A consistent poverty approach to assessing the sensitivity of income poverty measures and trends', Australian Economic Review, 41(4), 371-388.

Saunders, P. (2008), ‘Mutual obligation, unemployment and well-being’, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 10 (3), 167-184.

Saunders, P. (2008), ‘Measuring well-being using non-monetary indicators’, Family Matters, 78, 8-17.

Saunders, P. and Hill, T. (2008), ‘A consistent poverty approach to assessing the sensitivity of income poverty measures and trends’, Australian Economic Review, 41 (4), 371-388.

Saunders, P. and Naidoo, Y. (2008), ‘Poverty, deprivation and human rights’, Australian Journal of Human Rights, 13 (2), 137-155.

Saunders, P., Naidoo, Y. and Griffiths, M. (2008), ‘Towards new indicators of disadvantage: deprivation and social exclusion in Australia’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 43 (2), 175-194.

Saunders, P. (2007), ‘Reshaping Australian egalitarianism in an age of prosperity’ (in Japanese), The Review of Comparative Social Security Research, 159, Summer, 4-20.

Saunders, P. (2007), ‘Comparing poverty among older people in urban China internationally’, The China Quarterly, 190, June, 451-65.

Saunders, P. (2007), ‘Dentistry, deprivation and poverty’, Australian Review of Public Affairs.

Saunders, P. and P. Davidson (2007), ‘Rising poverty is bad for our health’,Medical Journal of Australia, 187 (9), 530-1.

Saunders, P., X. Shang and L. Zhengang (2007), ‘Using budget standards to estimate the costs of children: the case of Funan County’, Journal of Family Studies, 13 (1), 57-71.

Recent reports
Saunders, P. and Wong, M. (2009), 'Still doing it tough: an update on deprivation and social exclusion among welfare service clients (PDF)'.

Saunders P., Hill, T., and Bradbury, B. (2008), Poverty in Australia: sensitivity analysis and trends (PDF), SPRC Report 4/08, report commissioned by Jobs Australia on Behalf of the Australian Council of Social Service, March 2008.

Saunders, P., Naidoo Y., and Griffiths, M., with the assistance of Davidson, P. (ACOSS), Hampshire, A. (Mission Australia), Taylor J. (Brotherhood of St Laurence) and Bellamy, J. and King, S., (Anglicare, Diocese of Sydney), Towards new indicators of disadvantage: deprivation and social exclusion in Australia (PDF)', SPRC Report 12/07, project report from the ARC Linkage Project, Left Out and Missing Out: Towards New Indicators of Disadvantage.

Saunders, P. and Sutherland K. with the assistance of Davidson, P. (ACOSS), Hampshire, A. (Mission Australia), Taylor J. (Brotherhood of St Laurence) (2006), 'Experiencing poverty: the voices of low-income Australians. Towards new indicators of disadvantage project: stage 1: focus group outcomes', SPRC Report 14/06, report from the ARC Linkage Project, Left Out and Missing Out: Towards New Indicators of Disadvantage