Siobhan O'Sullivan is a public policy scholar based at UNSW in Sydney. She has studied welfare-to-work in Australia, the UK and elsewhere, over many years.

Michael McGann is Research Fellow in the Social Sciences Institute at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. He specialises in the sociology of unemployment and the governance of activation, with a particular focus on the marketisation of public employment services.

Mark Considine is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Studies, University of Melbourne.

"This revealing, often heart-wrenching work will prove enlightening for not only those within the policy field, but also anyone with an interest in or experience dealing with a system that often feels like a race to the bottom." -- Kim Thomson, Books+Publishing

"Buying and Selling the Poor looks at the failings of a system where the misery of unemployment fattens bottom lines. A system where penalties are handed out to jobseekers for minor infractions, while privatised employment services routinely fail to reach targets." -- Public Service Association of NSW, Red Tape