1. International Laboratory in Financial Economics
(LFE)
International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF)
of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE)

2. LFE 2 The strategic goal:
To create the conditions for conducting research in financial economics at international standards which leads to publications in top international finance
and economics journals.
Objectives:
to provide the intellectual environment for a fruitful research activity
to broaden the contacts of ICEF researchers in finance with the international scientific community and to disseminate their research
to integrate research into the teaching process, in particular in the ICEF MSc Program in Financial Economics

3. 3
Main tasks:
1 To provide support for the research activity of ICEF academics in the field of financial economics and the elaboration of a research agenda in this area;
Intellectual environment development (organization of seminars and workshops and the invitation of junior and senior international scholars in the field of financial economics )
Institutional environment development (opportunity for researches to get professional advice, purchase data and hire research assistants )
2 To increase the effectiveness of the research work in finance at ICEF through the involvement of research assistants (mainly students of the ICEF MSc Program “Financial Economics”);
3 To develop scientific collaboration with the London School of Economics and other foreign partners through participation in the activities of the Laboratory and joint research projects;
4 To raise the students’ academic profile in the ICEF MSc Program “Financial Economics” and advanced BSc students through their participation in the research activities of the Laboratory;
5 LFE will serve to attract good candidates for research and teaching positions at ICEF at the international economists’ job market.

4. International character of the LFE4
International character of the LFE
The LFE is created with academic support of the LSE.
The LSE support (Research Coordinator and Experts) is provided through participation in:
design of the research program of the Laboratory;
comment and advice on the projects conducted in the LFE;
work with the researchers of the Laboratory on a strategy for the publication of their work;
assistance in establishing contacts with other Western researchers that might lead to joint research projects.
The LFE is actively seeking to attract distinguished international faculty members with a proven track record in publishing in prestigious international journals as international research fellows;

5. PhD University of Pittsburgh (USA)5
Researchers of LFE:
Carsten Sprenger
Head of Laboratory and researcher, ICEF
PhD Pompeu Fabra University (Spain)
Christian Julliard
LSE Research Coordinator
PhD Princeton University (USA)
Maxim Nikitin
PhD University of Pittsburgh (USA)
Sergey Gelman
PhD University of Muenster (Germany)
Alexey Belyanin
PhD Manchester University (UK)
Vladimir Sokolov
PhD University of Notre Dame (USA)
Alexander Settles
PhD University of Delaware (USA)
Marie-Ann Betschinger
PhD Muenster School of Business administration and Economics(Germany)
Stanimir Morfov
PhD Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain)

6. International experts
Sudipto Bhattacharya
(LSE)
Branko Urosevic
(University of Belgrade)
Klaus Gugler
(University of Vienna)
Dmitrios Tsomocos
(University of Oxford)
Other staff:
Associate members
Visiting researchers
Research assistants (students of the ICEF MSc Program “Financial Economics”, advanced ICEF BSc students or other qualified students)

7. Directions of particular interest6
Research areas
Research Areas
Directions of particular interest
A Finance, Banking, and the Macroeconomics
The analysis of banking and financial market crises;
The connection between financial and macroeconomic fluctuations;
The effectiveness of different monetary policy instruments;
The analysis of capital flows
B Financial Markets and Their Efficiency
Asset pricing;
Market Microstructure, transaction costs and liquidity;
Portfolio management and the performance of fund managers in emerging markets;
Risk assessment and regulation
C Corporate Finance and Governance
Ownership structure and corporate governance;
Executive compensation;
Corporate financial policy;
Entrepreneurial finance;
The relation between foreign direct investment and corporate governance