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Policy analyses

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 policy analysis
The impact of 'clean innovation' on economic growth: evidence from the transport and energy industries'

Policies on climate change that encourage 'clean innovation' while displacing 'dirty innovation' could have a positive impact on short-term economic growth while avoiding the potentially disastrous reduction in GDP that ...Read more...

Ralf Martin

4 November 2014

CEP policy analysis
Brexit or Fixit? The Trade and Welfare Effects of Leaving the European Union

Since a speech by the Prime Minister in January 2013 , the Conservative party has been committed to holding a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU) in 2017. So this is a good moment to consider wha...Read more...

Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Joao Paulo Pessoa, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

16 May 2014

CEP policy analysis
Immigration, the European Union and the UK Labour Market

During periods of strong economic growth, migration is and has always been important for filling gaps in the labour market. On balance, the evidence for the UK labour market suggests that fears about adverse consequences...Read more...

Jonathan Wadsworth

15 May 2014

CEP policy analysis
Immigration and the UK Labour Market: The latest evidence from economic research

During periods of strong economic growth, migration is and has always been important for filling gaps in the labour market. On balance, the evidence for the UK labour market suggests that fears about the consequences of ...Read more...

Jonathan Wadsworth

25 June 2012

CEP policy analysis
Apprenticeship Policy in England: Increasing Skills versus Boosting Young People's Job Prospects

Successive British governments have committed substantial public resources to apprentice training, but far too few young people benefit and not enough high value skills have been developed. That is the central conclusion...Read more...

Hilary Steedman

14 December 2011

CEP policy analysis
Reducing Crime: More Police, More Prisons or More Pay?

Just over 4.3 million crimes were recorded by the police forces of England and Wales in 2009/10, of which 71% were property crimes and 23% were violent crimes. The British Crime Survey, which asks consistent questions ov...Read more...

Olivier Marie

July 2010

CEP policy analysis
A Note on Academy School Policy

The Academies programme set up under the Labour government, beginning in 2002, has so far given Academy status to 203 English secondary schools. These schools were more significantly disadvantaged in terms of pre-Academy...Read more...

Stephen Machin and James Vernoit

July 2010

CEP policy analysis
Still time to reclaim the European Union Emissions Trading System for the European tax payer

The criteria proposed by the EU Commission to identify industries that will receive free emission permits in the third phase of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) are not restrictive enough. Evidence fr...Read more...

Ralf Martin, Mirabelle Muûls and Ulrich J. Wagner

May 2010

CEP policy analysis
UK Productivity During The Blair Era

• Productivity is a key indicator of economic health and increasing productivity has been a key objective of the Labour government since 1997. UK labour productivity (GDP per hour) has traditionally been lower than other...Read more...

June 2007

CEP policy analysis
Boosting Innovation and Productivity Growth in Europe: The hope and the realities of the EU's 'Lisbon agenda'

• The United States has significantly higher productivity than the European average. US GDP per hour is over 15% higher than Europe’s; and US GDP per capita is over 30% higher. • From the end of the Second World War unti...Read more...

October 2006

CEP policy analysis
The National Minimum Wage: The Evidence of its Impact on Jobs and Inequality

• The National Minimum Wage is one of the most significant labour market interventions that the Labour government has made, raising the pay of well over one million low paid workers by about 15% overnight at the point of...Read more...

September 2008

CEP policy analysis
Incapacity Benefit Reform: Tackling the Rise in Labour Market Inactivity

• There are 2.7 million people of working age in the UK who are claiming Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disability Allowance or Income Support on the grounds of incapacity. Total spending on benefits for disabled people was ...Read more...

March 2006

CEP policy analysis
Inherited Family Firms and Management Practices: The Case for Modernising the UK's Inheritance Tax

• What role does hereditary family management play in the long-standing poor managerial performance of UK firms? We address this question using a new survey of the management practices of over 730 medium-sized manufactur...Read more...

March 2006

CEP policy analysis
Climate Change: Economic Sense and Non-sense of Carbon Mitigation Policies

• It is predicted that climate change caused by human activities will raise global average temperatures by between 1.5 and 5 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years. This could raise sea levels by one metre or more and l...Read more...

February 2006

CEP policy analysis
Fighting over Peanuts? The European Union Budget

• Top of the agenda at the European Union (EU) summit on 15/16 December 2005 is the budget for 2007-13. The original proposal from the European Commission was for a budget of one trillion euros or 1.21% of EU gross natio...Read more...

December 2005

CEP policy analysis
The Doha Round: Freer and Fairer Trade?

• Given the limited ambition that has been set for the Doha Round since the setback at Cancún in 2003, optimistic estimates of the likely gains from a successful agreement on world trade are around $182 billion, of which...Read more...

July 2008