EUROPE

BRITAIN

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Center for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE)
Center for Economic Performance (CEP)

:: Overview
:: Research
:: Practical information

Overview

Introducing CASE and CEP

Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE)

The Economic and Social Research Council Research Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), which was founded in 1997 and is mainly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), is a multidisciplinary research center with strong links to the Department of Social Policy at LSE. CASE’s research explores “what experiences and processes generate social exclusion or promote resilience, and what is the impact of policy and policy change?” (Source: CASE Annual Report 2003: 3). CASE employs about 20 researchers, 15 research associates and 15 research students. CASE’s Director is Professor John Hills. Professor Anne Power is Deputy Director. Professors Howard Glennerster, Kathleen Kiernan, Julian Le Grand and Carol Propper are Co-Directors.

These are CASE’s main research areas:

- Generational and life course dynamics
- Poverty, local services and outcomes
- The dynamics of low-income areas
- The CASE neighborhood study, a longitudinal study of family life in low-income neighborhoods
- Education and social exclusion
- Social networks and social capital
- Employment, welfare and exclusion
- Policies, concepts and measurement of social exclusion (Source: CASE Annual Report 2003: 3)

CASE researchers currently investigate the following questions:

- What are the impacts of childhood circumstances on later life?
- How do family structures and parenting contribute?
- How does education affect patterns of advantage and disadvantage?
- How does the area where people live affect their life chances?
- What is the role of social networks and social capital?
- How do processes of inclusion and exclusion operate in the labor market?
- How do these processes in the UK compare with other countries?

(Source: Ruth Lupton’s presentation on CASE at Harvard Inequality Summer Institute, June 19, 2004)

The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)

The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)studies the links between globalization, technology and labor market and educational policies/institutions and their impact on companies’ and workers’ productivity, employment status and social inequality. The Center carries out research in six areas:

- Education and skills, directed by Professor Stephen Machin
- Labor markets, directed by Professor Alan Manning
- Globalization, directed by Professor Tony Venables
- Productivity and innovation, directed by Dr. Nick Bloom
- Macro Program, directed by Professor Chris Pissarides
- Wellbeing, directed by Professor Lord Richard Layard

Source: CEP's website, August 2005)

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Research

Research areas at a glance

RESEARCH AREA	LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
Comparative and domestic institutional evolution	CASE: Howard Glennerster, John Hills, Julian Le Grand, Tom Sefton, Kitty Stewart CEP: Richard Belfield, Stephen Machin, David Metcalf, Hilary Steedman
Education	CASE: Simon Burgess, Robert Cassen, Howard Glennerster, Ruth Lupton, Abigail McKnight, Anne Power, Carol Propper CEP: Richard Layard, Stephen Machin, Hilary Steedman
Family structure	CASE: Rosey Davidson, Kathleen Kiernan, Anne Power, Carol Propper
Historical evolution of inequality	CASE: John Hills
Immigration
Labor market inequality	CASE: Simon Burgess, John Hills, Abigail McKnight, Carol Propper, John Rigg CEP: Richard Belfield, Richard Layard, Stephen Machin, Alan Manning, David Marsden, David Metcalf, John van Reenen, Tony Venables
Political and civic participation
Racial/ethnic disparities and race relations	CASE: Simon Burgess, Anne Power
Urban poverty and spatial segregation	CASE: Simon Burgess, Rosey Davidson, Alex Fenton, Kathleen Kiernan, Julian Le Grand, Ruth Lupton, Caroline Paskell, Anne Power, Carol Propper, Kitty Stewart

Researchers at CASE

Simon Burgess
Research areas: educational quality and outcomes; poverty and household income dynamics; neighborhood effects on income growth; child health and poverty; ethnic segregation of children in schools and neighborhoods; spatial issues in labor markets

Robert Cassen
Research area: education

Rosey Davidson
Research areas: family structure, childcare and
social exclusion; low income neighborhoods: regeneration and policy strategies; media coverage of public health policy and health issues; health inequalities, social status and social capital

Alex Fenton
Research areas: urban neighborhood studies; material culture, technology and architecture; mixed methods in small-area research

Howard Glennerster
Research areas: the economics and finance of health education and long term care and other aspects of social welfare; the allocation of resources between areas; the history of social policy; the comparative study of social policy especially in respect to the United States

John Hills
Research areas: welfare and income distribution; public attitudes toward growth of inequality and welfare in Britain over the past 20 years; evaluation of New Labor’s policies

Kathleen Kiernan
Research areas: Britain; childbearing outside marriage; children; cohabitation outside marriage; divorce; Europe; family change; long-term outcomes; parenthood; teenage motherhood; transition

Julian Le Grand
Research areas: models of public service delivery; social exclusion and neighborhoods; health care provision

Ruth Lupton
Research areas: schools, poverty and neighborhoods

Abigail McKnight
Research areas: low wage employment; economics of education; evaluation of active labor market programs; earnings inequality

Caroline Paskell
Research areas: geographical focus of social exclusion; antisocial behavior and crime; residents' action over local crime; young people and involvement in antisocial behavior/crime

Anne Power
Research areas: urban problems in the U.S. and Europe; urban regeneration; housing and management problems; family and community; social exclusion

Carol Propper
Research areas: quality in health care and education; poverty dynamics; marriage and divorce transitions of young Americans; social mobility of low-income parents

John Rigg
Research areas: disability and disadvantage; income dynamics

Tom Sefton
Research areas: evaluation of social welfare programs (with case studies in the fields of fuel poverty, youth homelessness and community development); income dynamics over the life course;

Kitty Stewart
Research areas: child poverty and disadvantage; international comparison of policy and outcomes relating to poverty and inequality; employment trajectories for the low-skilled; regional disparities in well-being within EU countries

(Source: CASE website, July 2005)

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Researchers at CEP

Richard Belfield
Research areas: earnings inequality; comparative industrial and employment relations

Nick Bloom
Research areas: investment and uncertainty; innovation and competition; management practices; ICT and productivity

Richard Layard
Research areas: happiness; unemployment; educational inequality

David Marsden
Research areas: pay inequalities and economic performance

Stephen Machin
Research areas: international changes in wage and employment structures, with particular attention to technological change and the declining role of labor market institutions; the economic impact of minimum wage floors; intergenerational earnings and educational attainment mobility in Britain; employer provided training and job mobility; child development and relative success or failure in the youth labor market; crime and the labor market in Britain

Alan Manning
Research areas: labor economics; low pay; minimum wages; unemployment; wages councils

David Metcalf
Research areas: unions; low pay and national minimum wage

John van Reenen
Research areas: impact of innovation on jobs, skills, wages and productivity; labor markets, competition policy, industrial economics, health systems and econometrics

Hilary Steedman
Research areas: training and education

Tony Venables
Research areas: international economics

(Source: CEP website, July 2005)

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Datasets

Among the datasets available at CASE and CEP are the National Child Development Study, the Birth Cohort Study, the British Household Panel Study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Survey, the Census of Population, the 12 Areas Study, which includes interviews and field observations from 1999 and 2001, the Neighborhood Study, consisting of repeated qualitative interviews conducted with 200 families in four urban areas in Britain, and the Survey of week-by-week patterns of household income.

For a complete list of datasets available at CASE and CEP and for information on how to access these datasets, visit the RLAB Data service website and the CEP Data Library website. For specific questions about these datasets, please contact CASE and CEP’s Data Manager, Tanvi Desai at t.desai@lse.ac.uk, or Gordon Knowles at G.M.Knowles@lse.ac.uk.

Library access

Inequality Fellows may request a visitor library card with borrowing rights through Jane Dickson, CASE’s administrator, at j.dickson@lse.ac.uk.

Research seminars

Seminars at CASE and CEP are open to the public. Most seminars do not run in June and July. CASE also organizes occasional Ph.D. writing workshops. The organizer will decide on whether Inequality Fellows can participate.

(Source: Katherine Newman and Katrin Kriz’ site visit, December 2003)

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Practical information

Accommodation

LSE residence halls are open to everyone during the summer (June/July through September). Inequality Fellows may be able to negotiate discounts if they stay longer than five weeks. For information on accommodation in London during the academic year, see the LSE housing website and the website of the University of London Accommodation Office.

Budget

The LSE’s Finance Guide should give Inequality Fellows a good idea of the cost of living in London.

Health insurance

The US State Department provides extensive
information on health insurance for Americans traveling abroad.

Office space and computer access

If space permits, Inequality Fellows will have access to a desk, computer and a phone. Phone calls are only possible within London and exclude calls to cell phones. Fellows can also get an email address through LSE.

Timing

The best time to be at CASE and CEP is from October to June. For information on LSE’s academic calendar, see LSE’s academic timetable.

Transportation

The most cost-effective way to travel in London is with a weekly or monthly Travelcard. For train travel in Britain, the National Rail Inquiries website provides helpful information. A fast and convenient way to travel from London to Brussels and Paris is by Eurostar. As a rule, train tickets are cheaper the earlier one books them. For a list of low-cost airlines operating in Europe, visit http://www.discountairfares.com/lcosteur.htm . To print out a location on a map, go to http://www.mappy.com./

Visa information

Inequality Fellows who are U.S. citizens and who enter the U.K. as academic visitors for less than six months do not need a visa to enter the U.K. However, they will need to show evidence to British Immigration that they will be able to sustain themselves during their stay in Britain, and that they have a return ticket to the U.S. For the latest visa-related information, see the US State Department, the LSE webpage on information for overseas students, and the Home Office’s website on UK visas.

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