The Nigerian economy has not grown much in the last 20 years. There is an urgent need to understand the dynamics of growth especially in a global economic environment that has supported growth in other regions, particularly Asia.

The challenge is that much of policy advocacy that goes on is not anchored in objective verifiable evidence. Such evidence if gathered and placed and positioned as a basis for debate or discussion would enable identification of policy options and discrimination or choice between these options.

In the last two decades there has been a global trend in favour of enhancing private sector economic capacity.

In developing countries it is clear that private sector decisions are suboptimal because facts about and analysis of value chains, markets, comparative advantage are simply not available. Such a handicap undermines the abilities of companies in these developing economies such as Nigeria to compete in their regional or global markets.

Therefore, an imperative of improving the competitive ability of firms operating in these environments such as Nigeria is providing companies with data gathering and analytical capacity.

The Center for Applied Economics of the Lagos Business School , Pan African University is an independent institute established to fill the gaps identified.

The concept of the Center for Applied Economics is to bring about the practical application of economic theories. There is a disconnect between the academia and policy makers, and implementation units in the economy. This accounts for Nigeria being well known for lofty policies and ideas but fail abysmally in implementation.

The recursive nature of the Nigerian economy, even when policy appears right, also seems to be a consequence of weak institutions which make implementation problematic. The CAE is therefore designed to pursue evidence based advocacy that will advance institution building.

The Center for Applied Economics will research on causative factors responsible for economic challenges at the macro levels and the nexus of macro/micro interface, and create awareness through publishing of books and newsletters, and through seminars, workshops. It will also use international conferences to bring together Thinkers from all over the world to brainstorm issues and proffer solutions

The vision of the Centre for Applied Economics is to bring about transformational policy and enterprise leadership and the practical applications of socio-economic ideas and policies to bridge the existing huge knowledge-action gap thus reducing poverty, advancing the enterprise spirit and a market economy culture

To create sector-based core stakeholder joint advocacy and research working groups which use workshops, roundtables, advisory services, conferences and publications to advance policies, build institutions and human capital that support entrepreneurship and pro-poo growth in the economy.

• Publish books.
• Publish newletters.
• Conduct local and international research.
• Bring together policy makers and the academia to brainstorm topical issues.
• Organize international conferences, seminars, and workshops on topical issues.
• Provide education and training on policy matters.
• Build research capacity.
• Develop Curriculum for courses that improve capacity for new venture performance for sectors of the economy.
• Advocacy for iniciatives that accelerate job creation and economic growth.
• Provide knowldedge and co-ordinate civil society for pro-poor policy advocay.
• Offer fellowship opportunities to some select scholars from all over the world to come in and spend one to two years, on sabbatical, to carry out academic or research work at the Centre.