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CentrePiece

The Centre's magazine features new research and policy ideas from the CEP. Written for non-specialist readers, CentrePiece articles are analytical, rigorously-evidenced and showcase the latest economic methods. Published three times a year.

Image: CovidPiece Spring 2023 cover illustration - a hand turning up a thermostat. Copyright: Raphael Whittle
CentrePiece Spring 2023
Navigating the energy crisis

This month's CentrePiece cover story explores the impact of the energy crisis on families and businesses - and how building resilience to meet net-zero targets for sustainable growth is the way forward.
Read more...
Illustration from CentrePiece Spring 2023
Women in the workplace: 50 years of change

Decades of progress have seen greater opportunities for women in the workplace, but sizeable gender gaps remain. CEP Economists review the effect of family policies on women's careers and set out the challenges to come. Read more...

Latest CentrePiece articles

CentrePiece article
CEP Insights: Wellbeing

The CEP carries out policy-focused research on the causes of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society. The Insights series highlights the contributions that CEP research has ...Read more...

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
Women in the workplace: 50 years of change

Decades of progress have seen greater opportunities for women in the workplace, but sizeable gender gaps remain in most indicators of economic achievement. Stefania Albanesi, Claudia Olivetti and Barbara Petrongolo revie...Read more...

Stefania Albanesi, Claudia Olivetti and Barbara Petrongolo

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
Growth and immigration: unpicking the confusion

More people in a country leads to a bigger economy, but not necessarily an improved standard of living. Alan Manning unpicks the complexities in the debate....Read more...

Alan Manning

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
Deep trade agreements: proliferation, provisions, impact

Modern trade agreements between countries contain a host of provisions beyond simple tariff reductions on traded products. Research by Holger Breinlich, Valentina Corradi, Nadia Rocha, Michele Ruta, João Santos Silva and...Read more...

Holger Breinlich, Valentina Corradi, Nadia Rocha, Michele Ruta, João Santos Silva and Tom Zylkin

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
China at the technological frontier

The technology frontier that was dominated by the United States, Europe and Japan in the early 2000s is now much more polarised between the American and Chinese patent offices. Antonin Bergeaud and Cyril Verluise show th...Read more...

Antonin Bergeaud and Cyril Verluise

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
The paradox of vocational education

Despite a UK labour market that is hungry for skills, academic education has triumphed over training, apprenticeships and preparation for specific occupations. Alison Wolf looks at why vocational education continues to l...Read more...

Alison Wolf

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
The recent evolution of apprenticeships

The quality of apprenticeships in England has improved in recent years, but take-up has dropped. Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura show how these changes mean that those from disadvantaged neighbourho...Read more...

Chiara Cavaglia, Sandra McNally and Guglielmo Ventura

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
Why have energy bills been rising?

The UK has been particularly exposed to the global energy crisis - partly due to the country's dependence on gas for heating and electricity generation, and partly its poorly insulated housing stock. After predictions th...Read more...

Anna Valero

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
Adopt, adapt and improve

Fears about robots taking people’s jobs are overplayed, say Rui Costa and Yuanhang Yu. Their Economy 2030 Inquiry briefing shows the real fear to overcome should be Britain’s lack of productivity-enhancing robots, softwa...Read more...

Rui Costa and Yuanhang Yu

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
Commute and thrive

The advent of commuting in 1930s London opened up opportunities to working-class people. Andrew Seltzer and Jonathan Wadsworth show how public transport boosts the labour market....Read more...

Andrew Seltzer and Jonathan Wadsworth

21 February 2023

CentrePiece article
CEP Insights: Crime

Findings from CEP researchers about how crime is influenced by wages, benefits, education, policing, and lockdowns....Read more...

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
Supporting the UK’s self-employed

Two years after the Covid-19 crisis began, incomes of the UK’s self-employed remain well below their pre-pandemic levels. Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura explain why the solo self-employed, who represent about 85% of ...Read more...

Robert Blackburn and Maria Ventura

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
in brief... Women economists benefit when seminars go online

The rise in working from home and the fall in business travel during the pandemic prompted a huge increase in remote meetings. Marcus Biermann looks at who benefitted from the shift to online research seminars in economi...Read more...

Marcus Biermann

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
Drivers of bad management: evidence from Mexican firms

The management of firms in developing countries is typically of lower quality than in richer parts of the world. A study of Mexico by Nicholas Bloom, Leonardo Iacovone, Mariana Pereira-López and John Van Reenen indicates...Read more...

Nicholas Bloom, Leonardo Iacovone, Mariana Pereira-Lopez and John Van Reenen

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
The impact of school closures on educational inequality

Nearly all schools closed at some point during the Covid-19 pandemic. Reviewing the international evidence to date on the impact of these closures, Jo Blanden, Matthias Doepke and Jan Stuhler warn that they will substant...Read more...

Jo Blanden, Matthias Doepke and Jan Stuhler

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
Stagnation nation

Even before the cost of living crisis, a toxic combination of slow growth and high inequality was threatening UK living standards, particularly for families on low and middle incomes. The Economy 2030 Inquiry is examinin...Read more...

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
Environmental costs of the global job market for economists

Each year, the international job market for economists involves more than 1,000 candidates and several hundred recruiters from around the world meeting for short pre-screening interviews at annual congresses in Europe an...Read more...

Olivier Chanel, Alberto Prati and Morgan Raux

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
Clean technologies for growth and equity

Public investment in developing energy sources that don’t cause climate change is a strategy for economic growth that could also contribute to the UK’s levelling up agenda, says Ralf Martin. His analysis indicates that s...Read more...

Ralf Martin

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
Policies for affordable housing: options and obstacles

The crisis of housing affordability has been mounting for decades, driven by growing demand for properties in desirable areas where supply is limited. Numerous policies have been enacted across countries, but many are in...Read more...

Christian A. L. Hilber and Olivier Schoni

20 October 2022

CentrePiece article
in brief... Confusopoly: how mobile phone companies use product complexity to raise prices

Confusing consumers can be profitable for companies, particularly in a highly competitive market. Christos Genakos, Tobias Kretschmer and Ambre Nicolle find evidence that, for a period, phone operators decreased the tran...Read more...

Christos Genakos, Tobias Kretschmer and Ambre Nicolle

21 June 2022

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