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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.

Illustation of a postit note with a lightbulb drawn on it pinned to a corkboard by Absolute Vision via Unsplash.com
Innovation through crises in the 2020s

Policy: How post-pandemic innovation is evolving amid economic shocks, with larger, digitized businesses leading adoption.
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
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

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and 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

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and 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

CEP report
Minimum wage effects: adjustment through labour market dynamics and alternative work arrangements

This report investigates the UK's 2016 National Living Wage (NLW) introduction, focusing on firm adjustment through labour market transitions and job contract amendments. The NLW boosted worker wages, and whilst there wa...Read more...

Pinjas Albagli, Rui Costa and Stephen Machin

4 February 2025

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation
Invest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategy

This document presents the submission made in response to the consultation on "Invest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategy." The consultation was conducted by the Department for Business and Trade from 14 October 20...Read more...

Aadya Bahl, Henry G. Overman and Esin Serin

6 December 2024

CEP report
The green industrial policy matrix: Informing an industrial strategy for clean energy technologies

This paper presents new evidence to inform industrial strategy prioritisation of clean energy technologies in the UK. It focuses on seven technology categories relevant for reducing emissions across power, heat and indus...Read more...

Pia Andres, Ralf Martin, Maxwell Read, Esin Serin, Arjun Shah and Anna Valero

25 November 2024

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation
Built Environment Committee - The Grey Belt

Paul Cheshire gave oral evidence to the committee as part of its short inquiry into the government's policy to introduce a grey-belt concept into the planning system....Read more...

Paul Cheshire

29 October 2024

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation
Industry and Regulators Committee

I am an economist who has worked (on and off) on post-school education for many years. From 1961-64 I was senior Research Officer to the Robbins Committee. In 1994 I co-edited Britain's Training Deficit. From 1997-2001 I...Read more...

Richard Layard

16 October 2024

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation
Industry and Regulators Committee

The UK is a service-led economy, with strengths in sectors such as financial and business services, the creative and cultural industries, and life sciences, which together employ 20% of the workforce. To build on these s...Read more...

Aadya Bahl and Sandra McNally

16 October 2024

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

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