The Center is the main administrative vehicle for organizing, coordinating, and publicizing the already substantial research efforts of the Department of Economics. We believe this serves several objectives.

	The Center significantly increases the extent to which the research of individual faculty enhances the institutional visibility of the University.
	The Center increases communication and interchange with colleagues at other Universities and at private research institutions in the DC area.
	The Center encourages even more scholarly activity by faculty by improving the administrative support for faculty research.

The Center plays a major role in facilitating research and in the training of both M.A. and Ph.D. students in economics and other disciplines whose research involves economic data. This objective is accomplished by providing an administrative set-up for recruiting, training, and placing research assistants on appropriate research projects being conducted by Center members. The Center provides research assistants on a competitive basis to aid members in their own research efforts, particularly insofar as these research efforts are judged likely to attract external funding in the future.

The Center sponsors conferences, meetings, and a discussion paper series that promote research efforts and publicize the activities of its members. The Center allows members to organize themselves into various programs whose design and operation are subject to oversight by the Center board. Thus far the "Program in Labor Studies" (PLS), and the "Program in Industry Economics and Policy" (PIEP) have been approved. The PIEP has affiliated GW faculty from both the National Law Center and the School of Business and Public Management.