What It Is, What It Does

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What It Is, What It Does CEPR what it is, what it does “ CEPR has become a synonym for the kind of economics we need.” Mario Draghi, President, European Central Bank “ CEPR did change my life and the profession in Europe and elsewhere. It has allowed policy- oriented economists to meet, think and talk to policymakers.” Charles Wyplosz, Professor, Graduate Institute Geneva, Advisor to the French government and former Advisor to the Government of the Russian Federation he Centre for Economic Policy Research • International macroeconomics – the Global T(CEPR) is a network of over 1000 research Crisis, Eurozone Crisis and responses, global economists based mostly in European financial architecture. universities. The Centre’s goal is twofold: to • The world trading system – Doha Round, promote world-class research, and to help Global Value Chains, mega-regionalism, trade get the policy-relevant results into the hands policy modelling, WTO. of public- and private-sector decision makers. • The economics of industrial organisation CEPR’s guiding principle is ‘research excellence – regulatory reform, competition policy, with policy relevance’. A registered charity since innovation, corporate governance. it was founded in 1983, CEPR is independent of all public and private interest groups. It • Eurozone macroeconomics and institutions – takes no institutional stand on economic policy Eurozone regulatory architecture, monetary matters and its core funding comes from its and fiscal policies, Emerging Europe, Eurozone institutional members and sales of publications. business cycles. Because the Centre draws on such a large • Public economics – tax policy, welfare network of researchers, its output reflects a programmes, social insurance, inequality. broad spectrum of individual viewpoints as well • Financial economics – regulatory reform, asset as perspectives drawn from civil society. pricing, market and bank financing, SME funding, household finance. CEPR researchers collaborate on the production, funding and dissemination of • Labour economics – unemployment, migration, research – forming a “producers’ cooperative” labour markets and the welfare state, where the whole is greater than the sum economics of education, policy evaluation, of its parts. While the Centre has no in- effects of globalisation on labour market house researchers, it acts as a ‘think-net’ outcomes. of economists who are deeply involved in • Development economics – private-sector academic research as well as in the analysis of development, human capital accumulation, policy options and outcomes. CEPR supports institutional change, randomised trials, impact this with network services including securing evaluation. funding for research projects, managing their • Economic history – patterns of long-run implementation, organising conferences and economic growth and development, the public dissemination events, and managing economics of World War I, and building publications and outreach. a comprehensive understanding of global economic history. Because the Centre’s research agenda arises out of highly decentralised initiatives, it is The list is always adapting in response to the diverse and constantly evolving. Some recent interests of our researchers and of the policy themes include: community. Research excellence, policy relevance Research excellence •The Geneva Reports on the World Economy are annual monographs focusing on reform For over three decades CEPR has played a key of the international financial and economic role in establishing the scientific excellence of systems. Launched in 1999 by the International economics in Europe. The Directors of each Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies of the Centre’s Programme Areas are leaders (ICMB) in cooperation with CEPR, each report in their fields. Together with CEPR leadership, is written by a team of internationally known they play a key role in ensuring the high quality macroeconomists. of the Centre’s workshops, conferences and • The Global Trade Alert was set up by CEPR publications as well as ensuring that CEPR fellow Simon Evenett in the wake of crisis- researchers meet high standards in terms of linked protectionism. It provides real-time publication output. They also play a catalytic role information on state measures taken during in launching research initiatives and moving CEPR the current global downturn that are likely researchers into promising new areas of study. to affect foreign commerce. In addition to The Centre’s commitment to research excellence monitoring policies that affect world trade, is also evident in the scientific honours that have it produces regular reports that draw out the been awarded to its Fellows. The Yrjö Jahnsson policy implications of the latest data. Prize, for example, is awarded every other year • Monitoring the Eurozone is the latest of CEPR’s to an outstanding young European economist. report series. The genesis of this initiative is a Since its inception in 1993, all winners of the group of scholars – led by Beatrice Weder di prize have been CEPR Research Fellows. The Mauro and Luis Garicano – who came together Bernácer Prize is awarded annually to European to work towards developing a pan-European economists under the age of 40 who have analysis of the EZ Crisis’ causes and cures. The made outstanding contributions in the fields of reports will present new, deep thinking and macroeconomics and finance. All winners have empirical analysis on the evolving challenges also been CEPR Research Fellows. facing the Eurozone. Research by the Centre’s Fellows and Affiliates In addition to these monographs, CEPR appears in the first instance in the CEPR contributes with its support and co-ownership Discussion Paper series. With hundreds of of the journal Economic Policy. This journal was papers published annually, it is the second founded by CEPR together with the Maison des largest series in the world after NBER Working Sciences de l’Homme, and in 1994 were joined as Papers. CEPR Discussion Papers have a significant a partner by the Center for Economic Studies of scientific impact, and rank second in the IDEAS/ the University of Munich (CES). Having celebrated RePEc aggregate rankings for non-university its 30th year, the journal has earned a global institutions’ working paper series, trailing only reputation for publishing the best, cutting-edge NBER. The CEPR Discussion Paper series ranks analyses of a wide range of economic issues. It is third in RePEc’s list of download requests, after consistently ranked amongst the top economics NBER and MPRA. journals in the world according to impact factor. Over the years, Economic Policy has published Policy relevance some of the most widely cited studies on CEPR is committed to enhancing the quality financial crises, deregulation, unions, the euro, of policymaking in Europe and beyond. It does unemployment and other pressing topics. Articles this by facilitating the participation of the best in the journal are commissioned from leading economists in policy debates, and working hard professional economists all over the world. Their to get the results into the hands of decision brief is to illuminate topical policy issues by makers. combining the insights of modern economics with the best available evidence. Written in To encourage the best economists to participate plain language, its presentation is incisive and in policy debates and ensuring that these debates accessible to a wide range of participants in are informed by the highest quality research, the the policy debate. Each paper is discussed by a Centre produces a wide range of publications panel of distinguished economists. This unique with significant policy implications. Most notable approach guarantees insightful debate and are its annual report series. alternative interpretations of the evidence. Impact and influence CEPR has had a pivotal impact on economic Our private-sector Institutional Members also policy going back three decades. Ideas and play a key role in helping CEPR disseminate evidence from CEPR policy research have been policy-relevant research to decision makers in influential on topics such as: central-bank financial and non-financial corporations. They independence in the 1980s; exchange-rate regularly host CEPR workshops, conferences crises, European unemployment, Transition and public discussion meetings. Economics, and the design of the European monetary union in the 1990s; and institutional reform of the European Union in the 2000s. The Centre’s close relationship with central banks – in Europe and around the world – is an important factor in its impact on policy. Almost all Eurozone central banks and the Bank of “CEPR has made an England are CEPR institutional members, as important contribution are the central banks of Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Poland, to the international Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. The Centre collaborates actively with policy debate in recent policymakers and researchers from these years ... This role will be central banks, holding many conferences annually. It also supports cooperation among even more important central-bank economists, for example with the over the next decade.” Euro Area Business Cycle Network. The CEPR’s Euro Area Business Cycle Dating Committee Lawrence H. Summers, Former President (the European equivalent to the NBER’s of Harvard University and Former Business Cycle Dating Committee) establishes Secretary of the Treasury the dates of Eurozone recessions. CEPR also engages directly with
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