The measurement of wellbeing is central to public policy. There are three uses for any measure: 1) monitoring progress; 2) informing policy design; and 3) policy appraisal. There has been increasing interest in the UK and around the world in using measures of subjective wellbeing (SWB) at each...

A common view is that the performance of the UK economy between 1997 and 2010 under Labour was very weak and that the current economic problems are a consequence of poor policies in this period. In this report, we analyse the historical performance of the UK economy since 1997 compared with...

Do "Anglo-Saxon" management practices generate higher productivity only at the expense of lousy work-life balance (WLB) for workers? Many critics of "neo-libéralisme sauvage" have argued that increased competition from globalisation is damaging employees' quality of life. Others have argued the...

In spite of progress in improving skills levels over the past decade, Britain still lags far behind many of its main competitors in key areas. Andy Green and Hilary Steedman report on the results of work carried out at the CEP as part of the Skills Audit. Governments increasingly access the...

Scrutiny of potential mergers by the European Commission often focuses on unilateral effects or single firm dominance. But some cases have involved concerns over coordinated effects: the concern that the merger could increase the likelihood of consumer harm through tacit collusion by the reduced...

A groundbreaking study of performance related pay schemes in the Inland Revenue, the Employment Service, NHS Trust Hospitals and Head Teachers.Performance related pay has played a central role in the reform of performance management: this study is the first one designed to evaluate the...

In July 1999, the CEP held a second meeting of policymakers and thinkers to examine in greater detail aspects of the international financial architecture and proposals for its reform. This Special Report includes revised versions of the main papers presented, including those from Peter Kenen,...

In this paper we discuss some of the most important economic issues raised in European Commission vs. Microsoft (2004) concerning the market for work group servers. In our view, the most important economic issues relate to (a) foreclosure incentives and (b) innovation effects of the proposed...

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf survey the economic evidence concerning the impact on pay, jobs and poverty of a minimum wage set at different levels. Minimum wages are probably the most controversial political and economic labour market issue at present.

We examine trends in wage inequality in the US and other countries over the past four decades. We show that there has been a secular increase in the 90-50 wage differential in the US and the UK since the late 1970s. By contrast the 50-10 differential rose mainly in the 1980s and flattened or...