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Policy analyses and reports

Summaries and analysis of current policy and economic developments. These reports are written in an accessible way for non-specialists. Issues covered include: Brexit, education, immigration, growth, social mobility and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Empty classroom by Mche lee on unsplash
The pandemic, pupil attendance and achievement

School absence increased during the pandemic and remains high. This report investigates the persistent effects of Covid restrictions.
photograph of the nameplate outside the UK Treasury office
Value for money: how to improve wellbeing and reduce misery

This report argues that policies should be judged using a cost-benefit analysis which includes a comprehensive valuation of their effects on wellbeing.

Latest Policy analyses and reports

CEP report
Absence and attainment: Evidence from pandemic policy

A high level of school absence has persisted across many countries since the COVID-19 pandemic. We use English data to investigate whether a student's absence during the pandemic had a causal impact on school attendance...Read more...

Stephen Gibbons, Sandra McNally and Piero Montebruno

6 September 2024

CEP report
Pupil absence and the pandemic

This report investigates lost education time during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. We look at the general factors affecting rates of absence during different stages of the pandemic and the consequences of specific pol...Read more...

Stephen Gibbons, Sandra McNally and Piero Montebruno

6 September 2024

CEP report
Overview: The pandemic, pupil attendance and achievement

School absences increased massively during the Covid-19 pandemic and remain high internationally. We investigate whether policy variation in restrictions influenced pupil absence during the pandemic and how this affected...Read more...

Stephen Gibbons, Sandra McNally and Piero Montebruno

6 September 2024

CEP report
Value for money: How to improve wellbeing and reduce misery

The government spends billions on our behalf. How do we want this money to be spent? This report reviews a range of policies and asks the fundamental question which should be asked of every policy: Does it deliver value ...Read more...

David Frayman, Christian Krekel, Richard Layard, Sara MacLennan and Isaac Parkes

3 September 2024

CEP election analysis
Research evidence on key issues in the 2024 UK General Election

A collection of 11 briefings produced by CEP during the 2024 general election campaign providing a snapshot of the UK economy....Read more...

8 July 2024

CEP election analysis
Energy and climate change

The scale of change and investment required for net zero is challenging, but early action is the most cost-effective way to achieve the 2050 target and could bring opportunities....Read more...

Leo Mercer, Esin Serin and Anna Valero

3 July 2024

CEP election analysis
Real wages, inequality and living standards

Real wage growth has stagnated. Policies which boost productivity or halt and reverse the trend to more employer power in wage bargaining are important in getting the UK out of the stagnation trap....Read more...

Stephen Machin

2 July 2024

CEP election analysis
Further and higher education

There are not enough graduates for sectors in which the UK has a comparative advantage and there are too few people educated to sub-degree level compared to other countries....Read more...

Sandra McNally, Guglielmo Ventura and Gill Wyness

1 July 2024

CEP election analysis
Schools

Schools in England, and the UK as a whole, need greater investment. Failure to do so puts economic growth in jeopardy as well as worsening social mobility....Read more...

Lee Elliot Major, Stephen Gibbons, Sandra McNally and Shqiponja Telhaj

1 July 2024

CEP election analysis
Wellbeing

Wellbeing should be the overarching aim of government. Assessing policies by showing the wellbeing benefit relative to cost would mean mental health becoming a top priority for policy development....Read more...

Richard Layard

28 June 2024

CEP election analysis
Immigration

In 2023, the majority of migrants were workers or students, and their dependants. Humanitarian immigration also increased - with visa schemes set up for those fleeing Ukraine and Hong Kong....Read more...

Tessa Hall and Alan Manning

26 June 2024

CEP election analysis
Housing and planning

The housing affordability crisis not only restricts access to decent housing, or housing at all, but it has adverse effects on equality, social cohesion, retirement planning, productivity and economic growth....Read more...

Paul Cheshire and Christian A. L. Hilber

25 June 2024

CEP election analysis
Work, wages and inactivity

The recent aggregate performance of the UK labour market looks good. But aggregate performance often obscures important changes around averages. Inequality along several dimensions remains a persistent feature of the UK ...Read more...

Jonathan Wadsworth

24 June 2024

CEP election analysis
Spatial disparities in productivity and income

This briefing looks at the causes and consequences of UK spatial disparities and what, if anything, policy can do to address them....Read more...

Will Brett-Harding and Henry G. Overman

20 June 2024

CEP election analysis
Brexit and UK trade

This briefing summarises the evidence about how leaving the European Union (EU) has affected UK trade. Overall, Brexit has had a negative effect on UK trade. But, so far, this effect has been smaller than economists expe...Read more...

Dennis Novy, Thomas Sampson and Catherine Thomas

17 June 2024

CEP election analysis
Growth and productivity

The collapse in productivity growth underlies many of the problems of the UK economy – from squeezed public services to stagnant living standards. Productivity growth in the UK has been weak relative to its own past and...Read more...

Anna Valero and John Van Reenen

12 June 2024

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation
Business and Trade Committee

Has the UK lost its competitive edge in the global economy? What advantages does it possess, and how can these be exploited for economic growth? The Business and Trade Committee considers these questions as it continues ...Read more...

Anna Valero

12 March 2024

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation
The UK's economic security

The inquiry aims to determine what the risks and vulnerabilities are to the UK's economic security and will scrutinise whether the Government has the necessary powers and capabilities in place to intervene in the economy...Read more...

Agathe Demarais, John Gerson and Dennis Novy

29 January 2024

CEP report
Boosting growth and productivity in the United Kingdom through investments in the sustainable economy

It is now widely accepted that the UK has a major productivity growth problem, with chronic underinvestment across both the public and private sectors being a key cause. Continued low public investment, as laid out in th...Read more...

Esin Serin, Nicholas Stern, Anna Valero, John Van Reenen, Bob Ward and Dimitri Zenghelis

22 January 2024

CEP report
A new UK policy institution for growth and productivity: A blueprint

The UK has experienced 15 years of poor productivity performance relative to its own past and relative to its peers. Analysis of the UK's productivity problem points towards many contributing factors, discussed in this v...Read more...

Anna Valero and Bart van Ark

27 November 2023

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