This book was originally published in 1986. During the decade preceding publication there were a number of significant developments in financial economics and major contributions made both by individuals who could be classified as conventional financial economists and by others who do not fit easily into this category - theoretical microeconomists, public and industrial economists. This volume contains a selection from the papers presented at a conference in Oxford in September 1985 which aimed to bring together a number of the leading participants in this field. The papers in the volume cover a wide range of topics - the efficiency of financial markets, new equity issues, asymmetric corporate taxation and investment, credit rationing, international investment, the foundations of banking theory - but they clearly reflect the main themes in financial economics at the time: the importance of informational asymmetries and of taxation.

Scandals in financial institutions, weakness in the world economy, and volatility in financial markets bring to the fore issues of regulation and consumer protection. This comparative survey of how investors are currently protected in a range of European countries and the USA is set in an accessible theoretical framework. It will be invaluable for academics and students involved in the analysis of financial markets and regulation as well as practitioners in financial institutions and regulatory authorities.

Scandals in financial institutions, weakness in the world economy, and volatility in financial markets bring to the fore issues of regulation and consumer protection. This comparative survey of how investors are currently protected in a range of European countries and the USA is set in an accessible theoretical framework. It will be invaluable for academics and students involved in the analysis of financial markets and regulation as well as practitioners in financial institutions and regulatory authorities.

This unique and authoritative study of the investment management business focuses on the use of capital requirements for investment managers as a means of investor protection. Commissioned by the Investment Management Regulatory Organization and drawing on extensive discussions with investment managers themselves, it provides an account of this burgeoning sector that is both comprehensive in its coverage and penetrating in its analysis. The authors review the way in which the investment management business is organized and its inherent risks; they examine the causes and incidence of market failures as well as the dangers to investors through mismanagement and malpractice. The book includes an extensive treatment of fraud, with a full listing of fraud cases in the UK since the early 1970s. The report concludes with a summary of the evidence on the nature and scale of the risks faced by investors and recommendations for appropriate forms of protection; and, on the basis of existing regulatory structures in the UK and USA, sets out a proposed structure in accordance with the thrust of the authors' analysis. While specific in its coverage, much of the argument presented here is closely applicable to other financial sectors in which regulation is a crucial issue; and it is especially pertinent to current debates on financial regulation in the run-up to the completion of the European internal market in 1992.

Over the past decade there have been a number of significant developments in financial economics, and major contributions have been made both by individuals who could be classified as conventional financial economists and by others who do not fit easily into this category - theoretical microeconomists, public and industrial economists. This volume contains a selection from the papers presented at a conference in Oxford in September 1985 which aimed to bring together a number of the leading participants in this field. The papers in the volume cover a wide range of topics - Summers on the efficiency of financial markets; Heinkel and Schwartz, and Asquith and Mullins on new equity issues; Green and Talmor on asymmetric corporate taxation and investment; Stiglitz and Weiss on credit rationing; Anderlini on the foundations of banking theory; and Alworth, and Cooper and Kaplanis on aspects of international investment - but they clearly reflect the main themes in financial economics at present: the importance of informational asymmetries and of taxation.