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The Evidence Quarter

What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth

The What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth was set up in October 2013 as part of the What Works network to analyse which policies are most effective in supporting and increasing local economic growth. It is jointly run by the LSE and Centre for Cities, and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Transport.

Our objectives:

  • Improve the quality of the UK evidence base by helping policy makers develop and evaluate local policy pilots
  • Demystify the evidence by running workshops and events on how to best use it to improve outcomes for local economies
  • Help support better evaluation by engaging local and national policymakers in collaborative projects with academics and policy experts
  • Provide a wide-ranging portfolio of evidence, case studies and guidance for better local economic growth policy evaluation.