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The current U.S. poverty measure is outdated and has failed to keep up with public consensus on the minimum amount of income needed to "get along" in the United States in the 21st Century. One potential approach to revising the measure, based on recommendations made by a National Academy of Sciences panel in 1995, improves in some ways on the current measure, but has serious limitations of its own that require further research before it is adopted. Moreover, the NAS approach results in a poverty measure that would remain far below the public's get-along level. To address these problems, the incoming Administration should adopt a "tiered" poverty and economic inclusion measure that is modeled on the child poverty measure adopted in 2003 by the United Kingdom.

The concept of social inclusion, also referred to as social integration or social cohesion, represents a vision for "a society for all" in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play (Report of the World Summit for Social Development, 1995). While various definitions have been developed to describe social inclusion, they all have been grounded in the promotion of a normative vision of society, in which individuals, groups or institutions are interconnected within a wider social system, and their relationships are maintained and enhanced in a harmonious way. This paper refers to social inclusion as a goal, process and outcome. As a universal goal, social inclusion aims to achieve an inclusive society that entails respect for human rights, cultural diversity and democratic governance, and upholds principles of equality and equity. As a process, it enables citizens´ participation in decision-making activities that affect their lives, allowing all groups to take part in this process, especially marginalized groups. As an outcome, it ensures the reduction of inequalities, elimination of any forms of exclusion and discrimination, and achievement of social justice and cohesion. Since the concept of social inclusion gained prominence following the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995, there has been a tendency to (i) treat it as an expanded version of "economic" inclusion; (ii) identify exclusion with the marginalization of certain individuals or groups based on their race, ethnicity or gender; and (iii) focus on individual well-being in analysing and measuring social inclusion. Over time, however, it has become evident that, like other social ills such as poverty and inequality, exclusion has multiple causes and takes diverse forms related to age, disability and location, among others. It is therefore important to adopt a more comprehensive approach to inclusion. Furthermore, there has been a renewed interest in social inclusion, with a number of policies and programmes having been implemented around the world, which highlighted the need for the simultaneous promotion of productivity, poverty reduction and greater inclusiveness. The recognized limits in the Millennium Development Goals have generated calls for more transformative and universal policies that are better integrated across social, economic and environmental domains within a more coherent development framework. The Second UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017) has further reiterated the need to address social exclusion and called for more inclusive approaches to overcome poverty in its multiple dimensions. In some countries, social programmes are now evolving towards a social inclusion framework, which incorporates (i) access to basic services, particularly health and education, requiring the active participation of beneficiaries in relevant programmes; and (ii) access to economic opportunities with the focus on inclusion in the labour market, with an overarching goal to reduce poverty and vulnerability, particularly among the most disadvantaged groups. This paper argues that there are three key interrelated areas that are critical for poverty eradication and inclusive development, which include (i) universal social protection; (ii) meaningful participation; and (iii) social and solidarity economy. It discusses some of the main issues related to these areas and provides examples of best practices at the national level that have been implemented during the UN Decades for the Eradication of Poverty. The paper concludes that it is unlikely that development will be sustainable unless it is inclusive. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development thus needs to be an inclusive plan of action, pursuing the goal of leaving no one behind in the way that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to participate in the processes that impact their lives. Social policies that promote practices based on universal rights-based entitlements, equal and meaningful participation, as well as norms of solidarity and reciprocity, while paying due respect to diversity and the environment, are more likely to enable social inclusion. It is therefore necessary to move away from the use of social inclusion schemes as remedial action towards making them an intrinsic part of broader and coherent development strategies. Government interventions in the form of enhancement of productive capacities, improved access to quality social services, adequate social protection and decent work are crucial to achieving socially inclusive, broad-based and sustainable development. Under this approach, social policy should be concerned not only with the welfare and rights of an individual but also with supporting social relations, institutions and structures through which the welfare of individuals in their households, communities and nations could be sustained and improved, while recognizing the importance of societal levels of analysis and not simply economic or individual indicators.

As a European Union (EU) candidate country, Macedonia is formally obliged to comply and adjust its social policies with the new Europe 2020 targets. In the social domain, this implies increase in employment and tertiary education rates, combined with the reduction of poverty and social exclusion. In addition to the targets, the Europe 2020 proposes new indicators according to which progress should be measured. Taking into consideration the negative structural conditions, such as high unemployment and poverty rates in Macedonia, it is expected that the new EU framework will have major implications on the national social policy agenda. The aim of this paper is two fold. First, by providing comparative data on poverty and social exclusion in the EU member and candidate countries based on Europe 2020 indictors, it strives to show the differences in poverty rates measured according to a variety of indicators. Secondly, by applying the Europe 2020 estimations of poverty and social exclusion in Macedonia, it attempts to show the differences in poverty rate as well as categories at risk with those generated from the current official data in the country. Apart from these two general aims, this paper also assesses possible implications from the Europe 2020 in relation to strategic redefinitions of the national social policy. In addition to the literature review and comparative statistical analysis, the work in this paper is also based on quantitative research, involving a representative sample of 1602 households, whose responses formed a basis for calculating poverty and social exclusion in Macedonia, according to the Europe 2020 indicators.i

Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impacts of financial development through commercial banks on poverty conditions in India.


Design/methodology/approach
Using unbalanced panel data for Indian states and union territories from 1973 to 2004, and applying the generalized method of moments estimation, the author estimates models in which the poverty ratio is explained by financial inclusion and financial deepening for public sector banks and private sector banks, respectively.


Findings
The results show that financial inclusion and deepening have statistically significant negative relationships with the poverty ratio for public sector banks, but not for private sector banks. In addition, the coefficients of the interaction term between financial inclusion and deepening are estimated to be negative and statistically significant in most cases of public sector banks. Considering the positive impacts of financial inclusion and deepening on poverty reduction, this result implies that promoting breadth and depth of public sector banks could have a synergistic effect on poverty reduction in India.


Originality/value
First, unlike previous studies, the author applies both the numbers of bank branches and accounts as the measure of accessibility and usage of banking services. Second, using the interaction term between financial inclusion and deepening, the author empirically analyzes whether, and to what extent, the breadth and depth of the banking sector interact with each other in the process of poverty reduction. Third, the author divide the Indian commercial banks into public sector banks and private sector banks and compares their impacts of financial inclusion and deepening on poverty conditions.

The goal of this study was to see how financial inclusion affects gender-based poverty in Nigeria. Commercial bank branches, deposits, and borrowers were the proxy for financial inclusion. The poverty index was used to measure poverty reduction. The World Development Indicator (WDI) and the CBN Statistical Bulletin 2021 provided the data for this study. Finally, the study included the years 2002 to 2019. Financial inclusion reduces household poverty in Nigeria, according to the study, which used a VAR estimate. The coefficients of commercial bank branches and commercial bank deposits were (-0.004) and (-0.008), respectively, indicating that they had a negative influence on poverty reduction. Furthermore, the study discovered that having access to credit through a financial institution was crucial in lowering poverty in Nigeria over the study period. As a result, the report recommends that steps to promote the rule of law, particularly contract enforcement and financial regulatory inspection, be implemented, resulting in more financial inclusion and a reduction in poverty and income gaps, particularly between men and women. The benefits of financial inclusion must be made more widely known, particularly in rural regions, through promoting financial literacy among the poor through education, advertising, and traditional institutions.

This thematic issue seeks to bring the field of science on poverty and social inclusion/exclusion of children and youth beyond the state‐of‐the‐art, empirically, theoretically, and methodologically. This editorial briefly presents the topic and summarizes the different articles published in the issue.

This is a thematic issue on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion. Due to globalization, Europeanization, supranational and transnational regulations linguistic diversity and multilingualism are on the rise. Migration and old and new forms of mobility play an important role in these processes. As a consequence, English as the only global language is spreading around the world, including Europe and the European Union. Social and linguistic inclusion was accounted for in the pre-globalization age by the nation-state ideology implementing the "one nation-one people-one language" doctrine into practice. This lead to forced linguistic assimilation and the elimination of cultural and linguistic heritage. Now, in the present age of globalization, linguistic diversity at the national state level has been recognized and multilingual states have been developing where all types of languages can be used in governance and daily life protected by a legal framework. This does not mean that there is full equality of languages. This carries over to the fair and just social inclusion of the speakers of these weaker, dominated languages as well. There is always a power question related to multilingualism. The ten case studies in this thematic issue elaborate on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion. The articles in this issue refer to this topic in connection with different spaces, including the city, the island, and the globe; in connection with different groups, like Roma in the former Soviet-Union and ethnic Albanians in Macedonia; in connection with migration and mobility of Nordic pensioners to the south of Europe, and language education in Scotland; and finally in connection with bilingual education in Austria and Estonia as examples of successful practices including multilingualism under one and the same school roof.

This is a thematic issue on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion. Due to globalization, Europeanization, supranational and transnational regulations linguistic diversity and multilingualism are on the rise. Migration and old and new forms of mobility play an important role in these processes. As a consequence, English as the only global language is spreading around the world, including Europe and the European Union. Social and linguistic inclusion was accounted for in the pre-globalization age by the nation-state ideology implementing the 'one nation-one people-one language' doctrine into practice. This lead to forced linguistic assimilation and the elimination of cultural and linguistic heritage. Now, in the present age of globalization, linguistic diversity at the national state level has been recognized and multilingual states have been developing where all types of languages can be used in governance and daily life protected by a legal framework. This does not mean that there is full equality of languages. This carries over to the fair and just social inclusion of the speakers of these weaker, dominated languages as well. There is always a power question related to multilingualism. The ten case studies in this thematic issue elaborate on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion. The articles in this issue refer to this topic in connection with different spaces, including the city, the island, and the globe; in connection with different groups, like Roma in the former Soviet-Union and ethnic Albanians in Macedonia; in connection with migration and mobility of Nordic pensioners to the south of Europe, and language education in Scotland; and finally in connection with bilingual education in Austria and Estonia as examples of successful practices including multilingualism under one and the same school roof.