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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.

Photograph of an empty classroom. Credit: Unsplash.com
Domestic abuse: improving risk assessment and response by the police

Identifying new approaches that could transform the effectiveness of domestic abuse response.
photograph of the nameplate outside the UK Treasury office
The innovation race on geological carbon removal: who is best placed to lead?

Patent data on BECCS and DACCS reveal which countries are best placed to lead in geological CDR and support climate goals.

Latest Policy analyses and reports

CEP report
Catalysing climate resilience

The UK is experiencing increasing impacts from climate change, including more frequent and severe floods, heatwaves and storms. It needs to prepare more for these impacts. It also needs to honour its pledge to support cl...Read more...

Raffaele Della Croce, Daisy Jameson, Maxwell Read, Esin Serin and Anna Valero

14 May 2026

CEP report
Hive of talent: what would it take to raise skills and productivity in Greater Manchester?

Finding enough highly-skilled workers to enable Greater Manchester to make a serious dent in its productivity gap with London will require action that goes beyond skills policy alone, a new report from the Centre for Eco...Read more...

Aadya Bahl and Henry G. Overman

29 April 2026

CEP report
Pathways to a productive and inclusive net zero

The transition to net zero can bring economic benefits - improving productivity and living standards while tackling climate change and this collection of briefing papers shows how. Pathways to productive and inclusive ne...Read more...

Pia Andres, Chiara Cavaglia, Sam Fankhauser, Ilya Ilin, Francois Lafond, Fulvia Marotta, Ralf Martin, Sandra McNally, Viet Nguyen-Tien, Alice Owen, Emilien Ravigne, Maxwell Read, Xiyu Ren, Misato Sato, Aurelien Saussay, Arjun Shah, Trang Thu Tran, Anna Valero, Guglielmo Ventura, Dennis Verhoeven, Francesco Vona and Golvine de Rochambeau

13 February 2026

CEP report
Road to recovery: Self-employed on the mend?

The eighth LSE-CEP survey of the self-employed shows weekly hours of the self-employed are now seeing some signs of recovery, compared with the last data collection in June 2023. The positive increase in work hours is tr...Read more...

Robert Blackburn, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

29 January 2026

Government consultation
Commons' Home Affairs Committee

Alan Manning gave evidence to the Commons Home Affairs committee on its recent immigration proposals. As part of its strategy to reduce net migration, the Government has set out plans to make major changes to the eligibi...Read more...

Alan Manning

21 January 2026

Government consultation
Commons' Treasury Committee

Swati Dhingra was one of the four members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to give evidence to the committee following the Bank's November report and a close vote which maintained interest rates at 4%....Read more...

Swati Dhingra

9 December 2025

Government consultation
Lords' Justice and Home Affairs Committee

Alan Manning gave evidence to the Lords' Justice and Home Affairs Committee....Read more...

Alan Manning

25 November 2025

CEP policy analysis
Domestic abuse: improving risk assessment and response by the police (policy brief)

Domestic abuse remains a pervasive challenge worldwide. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, domestic abuse affects one in five people aged 16 and above in the UK. In 2021, the then Conservative gov...Read more...

Aadya Bahl, Jeffrey Grogger, Ria Ivandic, Tom Kirchmaier and Ekaterina Oparina

30 September 2025

CEP policy analysis
How do you measure a child's wellbeing? (policy brief)

A central question for policy evaluation in the UK is how to measure wellbeing. To address this, wellbeing years (WELLBYs) were developed at the London School of Economics to assign social and economic value to changes i...Read more...

Aadya Bahl and Isaac Parkes

23 September 2025

CEP report
Pupil absence and the Covid-19 pandemic

A high level of school absence has persisted across many countries since the Covid-19 pandemic. We use English data to investigate how local health and social regulations affected pupil absence rates during the pandemic ...Read more...

Stephen Gibbons, Sandra McNally and Piero Montebruno

22 July 2025

CEP report
The innovation race on geological carbon removal: who is best placed to lead?

This report analyses innovation activity represented by patenting data for two carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies - bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACC...Read more...

Josh Burke, Siyu Feng, Maxwell Read, Esin Serin and Ram Smaran Suresh Kumar

9 July 2025

Government consultation
Treasury Committee: National Wealth Fund

Professor Neil Lee gives evidence to the Commons Treasury Committee. The committee is asking whether the National Wealth Fund has the right tools and backing to drive meaningful economic growth...Read more...

Neil Lee

18 June 2025

Government consultation
Treasury Committee: Bank of England Monetary Policy Reports

Swati Dhingra gave oral evidence to the Treasury committee....Read more...

Swati Dhingra

3 June 2025

Government consultation
Social mobility policy

This submission argues for a new model of social mobility that recognises and values all forms of talent - academic, vocational, and creative - and helps people to lead decent lives, wherever they live, whatever their ba...Read more...

Aadya Bahl, Lee Elliot Major and Stephen Machin

23 May 2025

Government consultation
Social mobility policy committee

To ensure inclusivity in the post-16 education system, the government must guarantee a clear progression route for the "other 50 per cent" of young people who are not on the academic track. The government should introduc...Read more...

Aadya Bahl, Richard Layard and Sandra McNally

23 May 2025

Government consultation
Science, Innovation and Technology Committee - Innovation, growth and the regions

Neil Lee gave evidence to the science, innovation and technology committee about the UK's innovation ecosystem and how it compares to other countries....Read more...

Neil Lee

6 May 2025

Government consultation
Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Written evidence submitted by Paul Cheshire to the planning and infrastructure bill committee...Read more...

Paul Cheshire

24 April 2025

CEP report
Innovation through crises in the 2020s: survey evidence on digital, AI and net zero innovation in UK firms

In this policy brief, we present new data from a survey of 373 UK firms conducted in May 2024 in partnership with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). This is a follow-up to our two earlier surveys which revealed...Read more...

Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Bruno Serra-Lorenzo and Anna Valero

2 April 2025

Government consultation
Social Mobility Policy - Oral evidence

Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Centre for Social Mobility, University of Exeter; Professor Stephen Machin, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics; Dr Lou...Read more...

Stephen Machin

20 March 2025

Government consultation
Education committee - Further education and skills

The further education sector is currently navigating a series of reforms and challenges. In this inquiry the Education Committee will explore these issues and other pressures currently facing the further education sector...Read more...

Aadya Bahl and Sandra McNally

18 March 2025

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