2. 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 LFE

3. 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; 5LFE will serve to attract good candidates for research and teaching positions at ICEF at the international economists’ job market. 3 Main tasks:

4. International character of the LFE 4 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. Researchers of LFE: Christian Julliard LSE Research Coordinator PhD Princeton University (USA) Carsten Sprenger Head of Laboratory, ICEF PhD Pompeu Fabra University (Spain) Sergey Gelman PhD University of Muenster (Germany) Stanimir Morfov PhD Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) Vladimir Sokolov PhD University of Notre Dame (USA ) Marie-Ann Betschinger PhD University of Muenster (Germany) Alexander Settles PhD University of Delaware (USA) Dean Fantazzini PhD University of Pavia (Italy) Roman Chuhay PhD University of Alicante (Spain) Bulatov Alex PhD Berkeley (USA )

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

7. Research areas 6 Research AreasDirections of particular interest A Finance, Banking, and the Macroeconomy 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