Britain’s economy has been stuck in low gear for over 15 years, and this institute will produce the evidence needed to get it moving again. The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) will run 85 linked projects across eight work programmes—covering labour, education, wellbeing, growth, the green transition, neighbourhoods, urban issues, and trade—to understand why growth has flatlined, inequality has widened, and living standards have stagnated. The research tackles the concrete problems that shape daily life: poor basic skills, low social mobility, the cost-of-living crisis, and the fractures in communities exposed by Brexit and deglobalisation. It also addresses emerging forces such as AI and the shift to net zero. The CEP’s core aim is to turn rigorous empirical analysis into practical policy recommendations for governments, businesses, and public services. If successful, the work could reshape how the UK designs education systems, labour markets, housing policy, and trade agreements—not in abstract terms, but with direct consequences for wages, job opportunities, and the quality of local neighbourhoods. The institute also plans to build capacity in the social sciences by running workshops and events open to the wider academic community, particularly early-career researchers.
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The ESRC CEP Institute aims to deliver world-leading research in economics and related social sciences through rigorous empirical analysis of real-world economic issues, and by doing so influence society and improve public policy both in the UK and more widely. Our next phase will analyse how to bring about the economic and social change needed to escape from over 15 years of economic stagnation and political polarisation, while tackling inequality and addressing climate concerns. These issues affect us all - at home, at work, in our schools and public services, and in our local communities - as well as being crucial for businesses and governments, locally, nationally, and internationally. This is reflected in three overarching themes - People (individuals, families, communities), Organisations (firms, industries) and Places (local, national, international) - which structure an ambitious research agenda involving 85 inter-related projects across eight work programmes (labour, education, wellbeing, growth, green transition, neighbourhoods, urban, trade). The research programme aims to advance the research frontier and respond to existing, emerging and future challenges, including global trends, AI, transition to net zero, cost of living concerns, community fractures, Brexit and deglobalisation. We want our research on these critical questions to be world-leading, published in the best academic journals, with wide-ranging impact. Our research addresses the key problems of economic stagnation - flatlining growth, high inequality and stagnant living standards, poor basic skills, and low social mobility. We will advance understanding of the economic forces at work, using new methods and data, and drawing on our expertise, existing evidence and the latest social science developments. We need to provide robust evidence on how the economy functions to understand dysfunction, and how to craft policies to rectify these problems. Generating societal impact is a core aim and objective. We want to inform economic and social debate and policy development, through wide-reaching public engagement. Effective communication is an integral part of the impact strategy, where we will continue to use, and expand on, a range of tailored communication and outreach activities. But we recognise that achieving impact requires more than just effective dissemination. We will therefore prioritise activities aimed at generating a wider reaching thought leadership role, increasing the visibility and impact of research and events, deepening policy and media networks, and extending collaborations and partnerships. As an ESRC Institute, we plan to continue our record of building capacity for the social sciences and offer broad leadership to researchers and non-academics in the study of economic performance and policy in the UK and internationally. We will continue to collaborate with partners to organise themed workshop series open to the entire academic community, including some targeted at early career researchers. We will also run events for a wide range of audiences, with an aim of promoting equity, diversity and inclusion. The 2025-30 phase of the ESRC CEP Institute will provide a great opportunity for a new work programme to deliver this agenda. The Institute has shown it can deliver world-class research and impact. Core funding from ESRC has played a crucial role in achieving this, and in attracting matched co-funding. Our proposal builds on our track record and expertise, and will use new types of data, methods, research designs and theories to inform and shape policy recommendations to improve economic performance of people, organisations and places.
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