Over the past decade there have been several significant developments in the field of financial economics. These have spanned a diverse range of topics from the empirical evaluation of financial markets to the theoretical description of specific features of financial arrangements. They have involved people working in a number of areas of economics including theoretical micro–economics, industrial, labour and public economics, as well as those who could be more conventionally classified as financial economists. Much of the research has been undertaken in the United States but a significant proportion is now being performed in other countries, in particular in Europe, Israel and Japan. With such important developments in finance occurring in a number of different areas of economics and parts of the world it seemed an opportune moment at which to bring together some of the leading participants in the field.

Wadham College, Oxford and the Institute of Economics and Statistics in Oxford were hosts in the first week of September 1985 to an international conference on “Recent Developments in Corporate Finance, Investment and Taxation”. There were forty–five participants from eight countries. One of the major objectives of the conference was to encourage participation by young scholars and approximately a quarter of the authors of the papers and participants at the conference could be appropriately described as having recently entered the field. The conference was organized by the Centre for Economic Policy Research in collaboration with the London Business School.