The Financing the Real Economy (FRE) programme investigates the links between the financial sector and the real economy in three areas.
The first area explores how financial intermediaries—including asset managers, banks, and investment funds—affect firms and their stakeholders. The second area examines how public and private innovations, in the form of regulations and financial technologies, impact the financing and growth of corporations and start-up firms. The third area looks at the role of financial markets in delivering sustainable growth and providing public goods over the long-term. A focus that spans all areas is on how better corporate governance improves the performance and sustainability of corporations and how such governance is, in turn, affected by financial intermediation.
We produce scholarship that improves financial decision making by firms, investors, and policy makers. We achieve this through two methods: conducting rigorous academic research on the relationship between the financial sector and the real economy; and collaborating with practitioners who can offer operational insights and complement academic analyses. We disseminate research insights through the FMG newsletter, lecture series, conferences, and other events that bring together academics and practitioners from the financial sector, corporations, regulators, and policy makers.
Flagship events and activities
Sir Oliver Hart Lecture Series and Conference
The Sir Oliver Hart Lecture Series and the associated Conference Series were set up in 2023 to honour the distinguished British American economist, Nobel Laureate, and former LSE faculty member, Professor Sir Oliver Hart. The themes of the lectures and conferences aim to have policy relevance and connections to Professor Hart’s own pioneering research. The series currently focuses on the area of sustainable finance and governance, i.e., on studying the role of private sector entities – companies and asset managers -- in the economy and society, i.e., whether such entities should focus solely on profits or attempt to reflect the non-financial preferences of their shareholders and investors, and how such preferences can be reflected in corporate and social outcomes. Recent lecture speakers include Luigi Zingales and Patrick Bolton. Recent conference themes include “Corporate Governance with Externalities” and “Shareholder Preferences and Shareholder Democracy.”
The series is run jointly with the Sustainable Finance programme of the FMG and is supported by the LSE’s Global School of Sustainability.
Entrepreneurial Finance Lecture Series
Our flagship industry event is the Entrepreneurial Finance Lecture Series launched in 2023 and hosted by Dr Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe. The series explores key issues facing high-growth, early-stage entrepreneurs and investors, connecting theory with practice through conversations with leading figures in the venture ecosystem. Guest speakers include renowned entrepreneurs and investors—many of them LSE alumni—who share insights from their own journeys building and backing successful ventures.
The Programme Directors are Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe and Dirk Jenter.
