The Center for Economic Studies (CES) is a division of the U.S. Census Bureau that undertakes research and development activities that benefits Census products and programs. CES staff conduct research in economics and other social sciences that have led to discoveries not possible using publicly available data,[1] create new public-use data and internal research data from existing data, and run the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers. The Center for Economic Studies includes a staff of around 50 economists and other social scientists, and additional support staff, and works with customer both within and outside the Census Bureau for research and development of data products.[2]
The center was established in 1982 in the Census Bureau's Economic Directorate, and currently operates in the Census Bureau's Research and Methodology Directorate, headed by the Chief Economist of the Census Bureau, Lucia Foster.
The Center for Economic Studies was recognized by Robert Coase in his 1991 Nobel address: "And we can also hope to learn much more in future from the studies of the activities of firms which have recently been initiated by the Center for Economic Studies of the Bureau of the Census of the United States.[1]"