Results

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Ideas for the UK - election economics collection

Prospects for taxes and public services have been central in the election campaign. But the UK faces many other challenges, including housing, skills, climate, inequalities, energy, trade and policies to address the foun...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Ideas for the UK: election economics international week

What is the right level of migration for the UK? Is the country on track to meet its commitments on tackling climate change? And how will big changes in the world trading environment affect the economy? Our fourth electi...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Ideas for the UK: election economics week one

Should the UK have compulsory national service? Do we need more police? How bad are NHS waiting lists? What about our failing water companies? Over the past week, the UK has seen a host of new policy proposals in these a...Read more...

External publication

Ready for change

Britain's productivity shortfall is its foundational economic problem. Debate about this gap and how to fix it typically focus on raising productivity of existing firms, via two routes. First, innovation: investment, R&D...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

300 years of history: In numbers

The central task for the global economy since Adam Smith's times has been to provide for an exploding population. Life expectancy has doubled, the global headcount has risen more than ten-fold, yet economic output has in...Read more...

CEP Brexit analysis

Brexit and consumer food prices: May 2023 update

Brexit continues to affect the UK economy. The results in this report are updates to the original study of Bakker et al. (2022), showing that higher non-tariff barriers due to Brexit are affecting food price inflation an...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Frontline stories: protecting biodiversity

Ahead of COP26 in 2021, Richard Davies talked to Dr Jane Goodall DBE, one of the world's leading environmentalists, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations Messenger of Peace....Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Frontline stories: designing furlough at HM Treasury

Richard Davies speaks to Clare Lombardelli, Chief Economic Adviser at HM Treasury and Joint Head of the Government Economic Service....Read more...

Blog

BBC Radio 4:

Understand The Economy: 9. International Trade and Currency Markets (podcast)

Richard Davies is a guest speaker in this episode of Understand: The Economy, Episode 9. International Trade and Currency Markets. Tim Harford explains who wins and who loses if the pound is cheap against the dollar....Read more...

CEP discussion paper

Non-tariff barriers and consumer prices: evidence from Brexit

Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) are the main policy impediment to international trade, yet little is known about their pass-through to prices. This paper exploits the Brexit trade policy shock to quantify how NTBs affect cons...Read more...

Blog

BBC Radio 4:

Understand The Economy: 7. Jobs and Unemployment (podcast)

What happens when lots of people lose their jobs? Why might wages be low even though everyone who wants a job, has one? What do we mean by employment and unemployment and what does 'economic inactivity' mean? What is pro...Read more...

Blog

BBC Radio 4:

Understand The Economy: 6. Recessions (podcast)

What is a recession and what causes a recession? Tim Harford explains the role a government can play in pulling a country out of a recession. Richard Davies is a guest speaker in this episode....Read more...

Blog

Understand: The Economy:

Understand The Economy: 2. Interest Rates and Mortgage Rates (podcast)

In this episode, Tim Harford explains why the banks charge interest when we borrow money and explains why the Bank of England might put interest rates up. Richard Davies is a guest on this episode of Understand: The Econ...Read more...

Blog

BBC Radio 4:

Understand The Economy: 1. Inflation (podcast)

Understanding inflation can help understand why our shopping is getting more and more expensive and why prices rarely seem to come down. Tim Harford explains why the inflation figure we see on the TV might not reflect th...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

What's happening to the UK economy?

Recently, the UK saw concerns that the pound would sink to parity with the dollar, turmoil in the bond market and the Bank of England forced to step in. What caused the financial market gyrations? Using interactive chart...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Is inflation avoidable?

Inflation in the UK is at a 40 year high, with prices rising across the economy. Shoppers can look for cheaper products, but many are already buying the lowest-cost options and the prices of those bargains are going up f...Read more...

Blog

Economics Observatory:

Inflation update: what's driving the cost of living crisis?

Prices in the UK continue to rise, with the Consumer Price Index up 9.4% in June. A closer look at the underlying data shows that more items are going up in price than are going down, suggesting high inflation could be h...Read more...

CEP occasional paper

Prices and inflation in the UK - A new dataset

This paper presents a new dataset of 41 million UK consumer prices, providing facts on the frequency, size and timing of price changes between 1988 and 2020. The micro data are the ‘price quotes’ of individual consumer p...Read more...

CEP Covid-19 analysis

Prices and inflation in a pandemic - a micro data approach

The Covid-19 lockdowns and recession are the most exceptional economic events in living memory and will impact the economy for years to come. One vital channel is via price changes. Price rises and cuts alter real wages,...Read more...

CentrePiece article

Lessons in resilience from extreme economies

Covid-19 has shifted attention away from day-to-day matters to a question that is more fundamental, yet rarely asked by economists: how can we ensure resilience in the most pressurised times imaginable? Richard Davies dr...Read more...

Journal article

National Institute Economic Review:

Formulating Industrial Policy

Alongside the challenge of maintaining economic competitiveness in the face of great uncertainty, Brexit brings an opportunity for the government to set out a new industrial strategy. The case for doing so rests on the n...Read more...

Book

Extreme Economies
Survival, Failure, Future ? Lessons from the World's Limits

In search of a fresh perspective on the modern economy, Extreme Economies takes the reader off the beaten path, introducing people living at the world's margins. From disaster zones and displaced societies to failed stat...Read more...

CentrePiece article

Industry in Britain: an atlas

The UK’s financial services industry is not nearly as London-centric as the creative industries. Rather than the South East of England being the country’s productivity engine, it is a band stretching west from the capita...Read more...

Blog

LSE British Politics and Policy:

Where industry is strong and where it’s weak – key facts of UK business geography

Financial services aren’t as London-centric as the creative industries, and the coast-inland divide is growing, write Sandra Bernick, Richard Davies, and Anna Valero. The UK’s financial services industry is not nearly as...Read more...

CEP report

Industry in Britain - an atlas

Living near a productive company can have considerable economic benefits. It means the chance of well-paid jobs, creates opportunities for suppliers of goods and services, and can be a boost to local retailers. This comm...Read more...

CentrePiece article

Towards a new UK industrial strategy

The regulation of business has been a rollercoaster ride for the UK over the past 20 years. Drawing on their work with the LSE Growth Commission, Anna Valero and Richard Davies outline an opportunity to build a new syste...Read more...

CEP report

UK growth: a new chapter

The UK Economy is at a critical juncture. Leaving the EU creates economic challenges that necessitate widespread policy change. But this also generates an opportunity to tackle some of the long-standing challenges which ...Read more...

Submission to a parliamentary inquiry and government consultation

CEP Response to BEIS Green Paper - Building our Industrial Strategy

Read more...