About the CEP
The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) is one of Europe's leading economic research centres. It carries out policy-focused research on the causes of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society.
To do this we have three overarching themes - People (individuals, families, communities), Organisations (firms, industries) and Places (local, national, international) - which structure an ambitious research agenda involving more than 100 inter-related projects across eight work programmes (labour, education, wellbeing, growth, green transition, neighbourhoods, urban and trade). CEP researchers investigate topics such as the changing workplace, globalisation, the transition to net zero, immigration, school performance, adult skills, crime, mental health, and the disparities between regions.
Established at LSE in 1990, CEP provides robust evidence on how the economy functions and how to craft policies to address problems. It sets the framework for economic thought, drawing on national and international expertise in economic theory and empirical analysis. And it contributes at a high level to the wider economic community. Our findings are published in top academic journals and as books. We also publish open-access discussion papers, briefings, blogs and a termly magazine, CentrePiece.
CEP members past and present include a Nobel Prize winner, a chief economist at the Bank of England, members of the Monetary Policy Committee, members of the Low Pay Commission, and chairs of the Migration Advisory Committee.
CEP has been recognised as a global centre of excellence by its main funder, the ESRC, and has official ESRC Research Institute status. Work at the Centre is also funded by the European Research Council, UK government departments, UK and US research foundations, including the British Academy, Nuffield Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, Youth Endowment Fund, among others, and alumni donations.
The Centre's work is overseen by our Policy Committee, drawn from business, academia and government.
Find out more about the people, research and events that have contributed to the history of CEP by visiting our timeline.
