About the CEP

The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) carries out policy-focused research on the causes of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society.

Established at LSE in 1990, CEP is one of Europe's leading economic research centres. It addresses two main questions: How to improve economic performance, and how to share the gains of this growth in a fair, inclusive and sustainable way?

Research at the Centre tackles a wide range of subjects with a focus on informing public policy. Our work covers six broad areas: community wellbeing, education and skills, economic growth, labour markets, trade, and urban economics. CEP researchers investigate topics such as the changing workplace, globalisation, immigration, school performance and adult skills, crime, mental health and the disparities between regions.

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 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 granted 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, Education Endowment Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, Alan Turing Institute, and alumni donations.

CEP's work is overseen by our Policy Committee, drawn from business, academia and government. The Policy Committee is chaired by Sir Nicholas Macpherson (former permanent secretary to the Treasury).

Find out more about the people, research and events that have contributed to the history of CEP by visiting our timeline.