Skip to main content

Image from CentrePiece Spring 2021. Designer Raphael Whittle

CentrePiece Spring 2021
Work and social life after Covid-19

The first issue of CentrePiece in 2021 extends the CEP's question of how to make the economy work better to post-Covid recovery. Drawing on lessons learned during the pandemic, our researchers highlight pathways to economic recovery that aim to make the world a happier place. Read more...

Image from CEP Covid-19 analysis cover
Covid-19 and the self-employed

Jack Blundell, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura continue their research investigating the experience of self-employed workers during Covid-19. Read more...
Photo published under CC0 Public Domain. Image from https://unsplash.com/photos/jM6Y2nhsAtk
Commuting for crime

Thomas Kirchmaier, Monica Langella and Alan Manning investigate why culprits tend to commit crimes in areas close to their homes. Read more...

Latest

The Telegraph
Two-thirds of self-employed lose out financially to Covid

A study by Jack Blundell, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura finds almost two-thirds of Britain’s self-employed workers are suffering financially from Covid-19, as the latest lockd... Read more...

02 March 2021

BBC Radio 4
Sounds: Today Programme

Lee Elliot Major is invited onto BBC Radio 4’s Today programme [1:15:20] to talk about pupil catchup funding, the national tutoring programme and inequalities. ... Read more...

24 February 2021

Quartz
How much more stimulus will the UK economy need?

A report by Nicolás González-Pampillón, Gonzalo Nunez-Chaim and Katharina Ziegler shows that footfall in restaurants increased by 5-6% on those three days, and that the food sector po... Read more...

18 February 2021

The Independent
Brexit disruption in first weeks of year is sign of more to come, economists warn

Thomas Sampson, associate economics professor at the London School of Economics, has predicted a 36 per cent fall in exports to the EU over the next decade. He said it was too early to claim that economists... Read more...

13 February 2021

Forbes
Changes In Job-Related Training Since Covid-19

Few aspects of modern society have remained unaffected in some way by the Covid-19 pandemic, and so it's perhaps no surprise that a new report by Jiaqi Li, Anna Valero, Guglielmo Ventura shows that jo... Read more...

12 February 2021

LSE Ideas
UK Economic Diplomacy report published: CEP experts on commission

The final report of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission, which proposes a framework for the UK’s trade agenda that seeks to balance commercial openness with strategic domestic and foreign policy aims, ... Read more...

09 February 2021

The Times
Pandemic turns up pace of workplace innovation

Research by Capucine Riom and Anna Valero finds the Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses to adopt new technologies and ways of working that will increase the breadth of economic productivity. ... Read more...

08 February 2021

Bloomberg
‘Tough’ Isn’t the China Question Biden Has to Answer on Trade

In a recent working paper, Chad Bown, Paola Conconi, Aksel Erbahar and Lorenzo Trimarchi calculate the higher cost of imported inputs caused by those tariffs leveled at China caused the U.S. economy to create ... Read more...

08 February 2021

The Times
Why your weekly shop costs a lot more than you think

Study by LSE's Richard Davies finds price volatility during the Covid-19 pandemic has been higher than in any comparable period since 1991. ... Read more...

05 February 2021

The Guardian
Independence could cost Scotland's economy £11bn a year, forecast suggests

Economists say impact of leaving UK’s common market would hit two to three times as hard as leaving EU. ... Read more...

03 February 2021

The Telegraph
Economic hit to Scotland from independence three times bigger than Brexit

Trade barriers with the rest of the UK would deal a hit to the Scottish economy far greater than Brexit, warns report by Hanwei Huang, Thomas Sampson and Patrick Schneider. ... Read more...

03 February 2021

The Herald
People would be up to £2,800 a year worse off in independent Scotland, claims new research

Study by Hanwei Huang, Thomas Sampson and Patrick Schneider concludes independence would hit the Scottish economy harder than Brexit because Scotland’s trade with the rest of the UK is around f... Read more...

03 February 2021

BBC
Scottish independence trading costs calculated

Study into trade concludes that the costs of Scottish independence would be two to three times greater than the impact from Brexit, and that joining the European Union would do little to offset that cost. ... Read more...

03 February 2021

Financial Times
Independence would cost Scotland far more than Brexit, study finds

Independence from the UK would cost Scotland’s economy up to three times as much in lost trade as Brexit will, according to analysis by the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performan... Read more...

03 February 2021

The Scotsman
Independence would hit Scottish economy harder than Brexit, say researchers

Academics from the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance say the economic costs of independence are two or three times greater than Brexit due to the volume of Scotland’s trade with the rest of the... Read more...

03 February 2021

The Independent
Independence would hit Scotland's economy ‘two to three times' harder than Brexit, say economists

Independence would damage Scotland’s economy and leave the country “considerably poorer” than staying inside the UK, according to a study by economists Hanwei Huang, Thomas Sampson ... Read more...

03 February 2021

BBC
Firms at risk: 'We are worried about how we can survive'

More than 900,000 small businesses are at risk of going under, according to research from Peter Lambert and John Van Reenen, and backed by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. ... Read more...

27 January 2021

The Independent
Around 900,000 small firms at risk in ‘cruel spring of bankruptcy’ if Covid help stopped, Rishi Sunak warned

Research by Peter Lambert and John Van Reenen warns around 900,000 small firms – employing 2.5 million workers – are at risk of going bust if Covid-19 rescue schemes are wound up. ... Read more...

27 January 2021

The Guardian
Gordon Brown calls for urgent budget help as 1 in 7 UK firms face collapse

Gordon Brown has called for emergency measures to support businesses in the budget after new research by Peter Lambert and John Van Reenen warned almost 1m UK companies were at risk of failure in the next thre... Read more...

27 January 2021

The Daily Telegraph
Why Britain's falling population equals economic trouble

Alan Manning considers the possible outcomes of a drop in immigration and population growth on productivity, economic growth and the labour market. ... Read more...

21 January 2021

Hindustan Times
Farm laws: What India can learn from Kenya’s agri experiment

Swati Dhingra examines a decade of high-quality farmer-buyer data from Kenya during a period when it introduced radical farm laws to encourage agri-businesses to determine impacts on small farmers. ... Read more...

15 January 2021

The Independent
Exports to EU to plunge by more than one-third because of Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal, study warns

Research by Thomas Sampson suggests UK exports to the EU may fall by over a third, and income per capita is forecast to fall by 6 per cent – just 2 per cent less than under a no-deal departure. ... Read more...

15 January 2021

Financial Times
UK economists’ survey: recovery will be slower than in peer countries

A survey of nearly 100 economists revealed that most of them expect the size of the economy not to return to pre-pandemic levels until the third quarter of 2022, despite the expectation of a strong consumer-le... Read more...

03 January 2021

The Times
Build back wellbeing and you will truly level everyone up

Richard Layard and Gus O’Donnell write about the need for policy makers to aim for the wellbeing of the people, now and to come – focusing more on what matters to people, their mental and physical ... Read more...

27 December 2020

The Times
Happiness has its place in economics again — but what matters more is wellbeing

Philip Aldrick contemplates the importance of wellbeing as economic policy, citing research by Richard Layard and George Ward. ... Read more...

26 December 2020

View all news

CEP discussion papers
Wage responses to gender pay gap reporting requirements

In this paper I study a policy in which employers are required to publicly report gender pay gap statistics. Proponents argue that increasing the information available to workers and consumers places pressure on firms to... Read more...

Jack Blundell

05 March 2021

Blog
Budget 2021: while important steps have been taken, bolder and better coordinated action is needed for a sustainable recovery

Anna Valero writes that the underlying and urgent issues that were facing the UK economy before the pandemic, such as high levels of inequality and weak productivity, are still present, and are indeed more pressing than ... Read more...

Anna Valero

04 March 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses
Covid-19 and the self-employed - ten months into the crisis

Almost a year into the Covid-19 crisis, it has become widely acknowledged that UK self-employment has been particularly hard hit. Here we continue our series investigating the experience of self-employed workers througho... Read more...

Jack Blundell, Stephen Machin and Maria Ventura

02 March 2021

Blog
LSE Festival 2021 | Many of us will return to offices - but not for the whole week

As the pandemic drags on, employers have got better at organising their staff to work from home, says Daniela Scur (Cornell University and LSE). Not all will return to the office, and many will never go back to the five-... Read more...

Daniela Scur

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Lockdown and the social life of big cities

The effects of Covid-19 on the social lives of city dwellers - being able to go to the pub, restaurants and theatre - may be more relevant for the future of cities than its impact on work. That’s the implication of a tho... Read more...

Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Fabian Bald, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Will coronavirus cause a big city exodus?

Big cities thrive because of the economic and social benefits of proximity – but proximity also helps to spread Covid-19. Does this mean an end to the urban revival of recent years – or do vaccines herald a return to nor... Read more...

Max Nathan and Henry Overman

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
in brief... The long shadow of slavery

The politics and economy of the antebellum American South were dominated by those who practiced forced enslavement. Research by Luna Bellani, Anselm Hager and Stephan Maurer, which examines a database of Texas legislator... Read more...

Luna Bellani, Anselm Hager and Stephan Maurer

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Innovation policy to restore American prosperity

The new US administration has the opportunity to reset an economic model that has failed to deliver prosperity for millions of Americans for decades. John Van Reenen calls for a Grand Innovation Challenge Fund – federal ... Read more...

John Van Reenen

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
in brief... Losses in lockdown: jobs, income, education and mental health

During the pandemic, many parents have had to cope with losing their jobs or part of their income at the same time as they are obliged to manage home schooling. Claudia Hupkau, Ingo Isphording, Stephen Machin and Jenifer... Read more...

Claudia Hupkau, Ingo Isphording, Stephen Machin and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Is Tokyo 2020 worth it?

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been rescheduled to take place in July and August this year. Christian Krekel uses tools from the new science of wellbeing to assess whether the event should still go ahead and how likel... Read more...

Christian Krekel

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
In brief... Lockdown, recession and crime

What has happened to criminal activity in England and Wales during the pandemic? Tom Kirchmaier and Carmen VillaLlera explore the effects of lockdown and job loss on the kinds of crimes being committed – and the ability ... Read more...

Tom Kirchmaier and Carmen Villa-Llera

01 March 2021

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Build back happier

In CEP’s first anniversary lecture marking 30 years since the Centre began, founder director Richard Layard outlined the science of wellbeing and its implications for public policy. As society tries to recover from the c... Read more...

Richard Layard

01 March 2021

POID Working Papers
World Management Survey at 18: lessons and the way forward

Understanding how differences in management "best practices" affect organizational outcomes has been a focus of both theoretical and empirical work in the fields of management, sociology, economics and public policy. The... Read more...

Nicholas Bloom, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun, Daniela Scur and John Van Reenen

28 February 2021

CEP discussion papers
Maternal depression and child human capital: a genetic instrumental-variable approach

We here address the causal relationship between maternal depression and child human capital using UK cohort data. We exploit the conditionally-exogenous variation in mothers’ genomes in an instrumental-variable approach,... Read more...

Andrew E. Clark, Conchita D'Ambrosio, Simone Ghislandi, Anthony Lepinteur and Giorgia Menta

26 February 2021

CEP discussion papers
Unequal learning and labour market losses in the crisis: consequences for social mobility

The unequal learning and labour market losses arising in the UK due to the Covid-19 pandemic are used to assess the consequences for social mobility. Labour market and learning losses have been more pronounced for people... Read more...

Lee Elliot Major, Andrew Eyles and Stephen Machin

25 February 2021

Blog
To recover from Covid and Brexit, the UK must upskill its workforce

The twin forces of Covid-19 and Brexit are altering the skills that people require to succeed in work. Skill levels remain low in the UK, compared to other advanced nations. About 30% of adults have low skill levels in l... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

23 February 2021

CEP discussion papers
Commuting for crime

People care about crime, with the spatial distribution of both actual and perceived crime affecting the amenities from living in different areas and residential decisions. The literature finds that crime tends to happen ... Read more...

Thomas Kirchmaier, Monica Langella and Alan Manning

19 February 2021

CEP discussion papers
The true returns to the choice of occupation and education

Which occupations are best for wellbeing? There is a large literature on earnings differentials, but less attention has been paid to occupational differences in non-pecuniary rewards. However, information on both types o... Read more...

Andrew E. Clark, Maria Cotofan and Richard Layard

19 February 2021

Blog
We can tackle the climate emergency and grow the economy at the same time

The idea that economic growth is incompatible with tackling the climate emergency is wrong, says John Van Reenen (LSE). He sets out how technological innovation and better management can bring about sustainable growth.... Read more...

John Van Reenen

18 February 2021

CEP discussion papers
Consumption access and agglomeration: evidence from smartphone data

We provide new theory and evidence on the role of consumption access in understanding the agglomeration of economic activity. We combine smartphone data that records user location every 5 minutes of the day with economic... Read more...

Yuhei Miyauchi, Kentaro Nakajima and Stephen J. Redding

18 February 2021

Blog
Increasing support for clean innovation: a win-win-win strategy?

Political support for government spending to deal with the economic aftermath of the COVID pandemic has grown. It is now greater than during the 2008 financial crisis, and 'build back better' pledges have multiplied. Ral... Read more...

Ralf Martin, Sam Unsworth, Anna Valero and Dennis Verhoeven

11 February 2021

Blog
Trade protection along supply chains: how antidumping measures against China hurt downstream industries

Production processes are often no longer confined to a single country; supply chains can be fragmented across great distances. By contrast, tariffs are often used by individual countries to protect certain industries. In... Read more...

Chad Bown, Paola Conconi, Aksel Erbahar and Lorenzo Trimarchi

10 February 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses
Recovering from the first Covid-19 lockdown: Economic impacts of the UK's Eat Out to Help Out scheme

We evaluate some of the economic impacts of the UK’s Eat Out to Help Out (EOTHO) scheme on the food service sector. EOTHO subsidised the cost of eating out, with a 50% discount Mondays to Wednesdays in August 2020. We ex... Read more...

Nicolás González-Pampillón, Gonzalo Nunez-Chaim and Katharina Ziegler

10 February 2021

External publications
UK Economic Diplomacy in the 21st Century: The LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission Final Report

The LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission was convened in 2019 to establish a strategic direction for a new age of foreign economic policy, to understand the domestic ramifications of changes to the UK's trade agenda, and to... Read more...

09 February 2021

Blog
After Brexit: Views of leading economists on future prospects for the UK and EU economies

The UK's exit from the EU was finally completed on 1 January 2021. The IGM Forum at Chicago Booth invited its panels of leading European and US economists to express their views on the likely long-term effects of Brexit ... Read more...

Romesh Vaitilingam

08 February 2021

View all publications

CEP Labour Markets Workshop
Minimum wages and the wage policy of firms

Read more...

Giulia Giupponi (Bocconi University and CEP)

09 March 2021

CEP Policing and Crime Workshop
Misdemeanor Prosecution

Read more...

Amanda Agan (Rutgers)

10 March 2021

CEP International Economics Workshops
Import Competition and Trade Credit: Evidence and Theory

Read more...

Fadi Hassan (Bank of Italy and CEP)

10 March 2021

Wellbeing Seminar Series
The Welfare Effects of Social Media

Read more...

Sarah Eichmeyer (LMU Munich)

11 March 2021

CEP/DOM Capabilities, Competition and Innovation Seminars
Opening up Military Innovation: Causal Effects of ‘Bottom-Up’ Reforms to U.S. Defense Research

Read more...

John Van Reenen (LSE, CEP and POID)

11 March 2021

CEP/LSE International Economics Seminars
European Immigrants and the United States’ Rise to the Technological Frontier

Read more...

Costas Arkolakis (Yale)

12 March 2021

CEP/Geography Urban and Regional Economics Seminars
European Immigrants and the United States’ Rise to the Technological Frontier

Read more...

Costas Arkolakis (Yale)

12 March 2021

CEP Labour Markets Workshop
Labour Market Shocks during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Inequalities and Child Outcomes

Read more...

Claudia Hupkau (CUNEF and CEP/CVER)

16 March 2021

CEP/LSE International Economics Seminars
Contracting Frictions in Global Sourcing: Implications for Welfare

Read more...

Davin Chor (Dartmouth)

17 March 2021

CEP International Economics Workshops
tbc

Read more...

Rebecca Freeman (Bank of England and CEP)

17 March 2021

CEP Public Events
The Policy Implications of Recent Globalization Research

An online seminar series aiming to encourage the exchange and discussion of empirical research on trade and investment on developing and emerging countries.... Read more...

Dani Rodrik (Harvard University)

18 March 2021

Wellbeing Seminar Series
Let’s Face It: Assessing the Welfare Effects of Calorie Labelling Using Facial Expressions

Read more...

Kate Laffan (University College Dublin )

18 March 2021

CEP/Geography Urban and Regional Economics Seminars
Judge Dread: Court severity, repossession risk and demand in mortgage and housing markets

We study the impact of the likelihood that a house is repossessed – conditional on the mortgage being in arrears and taken to court – on mortgage and housing demand. We focus on the severity of courts that adjudicate on ... Read more...

Nikodem Szumilo (UCL)

19 March 2021

CEP Labour Markets Workshop
tbc

Read more...

Stephen Machin (LSE and CEP)

23 March 2021

CEP International Economics Workshops
tbc

Read more...

Thomas Sampson (LSE and CEP)

24 March 2021

CVER Seminar
The Effect of College Capital Projects on Students' Outcomes

Read more...

Claudia Hupkau (CUNEF and CEP/CVER)

24 March 2021

CEP/LSE International Economics Seminars
tbc

Read more...

Stefania Garetto (Boston)

24 March 2021

CEP Policing and Crime Workshop
Corruption under Austerity

We study how policies limiting the spending capacity of local governments may reduce corruption. We exploit the extension of one such policy, the Domestic Stability Pact (DSP), to small Italian municipalities. The DSP le... Read more...

Gianmarco Daniele (University of Milan)

24 March 2021

Wellbeing Seminar Series
Collective Action and Wellbeing in Times of Crisis: Evidence from the NHS Volunteer Responders

Read more...

Christian Krekel (LSE and CEP)

25 March 2021

CEP/DOM Capabilities, Competition and Innovation Seminars
tbc

Read more...

David Yanagizawa-Drott (UZH)

25 March 2021

CEP/Geography Urban and Regional Economics Seminars
tbc

Read more...

Lu Han (Wisconsin School of Business)

26 March 2021

CEP Labour Markets Workshop
The Impact of Regulation on Innovation

Read more...

John Van Reenen (LSE, CEP and POID)

30 March 2021

CEP International Economics Workshops
tbc

Read more...

Kohei Takeda (LSE and CEP)

31 March 2021

CEP/LSE International Economics Seminars
Unequal Expenditure Switching: Evidence from Switzerland

Read more...

Ariel Burstein (UCLA)

31 March 2021

CEP/Geography Urban and Regional Economics Seminars
Unequal Expenditure Switching: Evidence from Switzerland

Read more...

Ariel Burstein (UCLA)

31 March 2021

View all events