The European Summer Symposium in Financial Markets (ESSFM)
The European Summer Symposia in Financial Markets (ESSFM) brings together leading researchers for an extended period. It has been held at the Studienzentrum Gerzensee, Switzerland, each July since 1990. The meeting is organised by the Studienzentrum Gerzensee (a foundation of the Swiss National Bank) with CEPR. It runs for two weeks, in the form of a large-scale workshop with sub-workshops. While some time is set aside for seminars, focus sessions, as well as for less formal evening seminars, a substantial amount is reserved for independent work and collaborative research. This provides participants with a unique opportunity to interact and discuss each other's research. Each of the two weeks is centred around two 'focus sessions', each of which concentrates on some recent developments in corporate finance (alternately week one) and asset pricing (alternately week two). The topics are chosen by the organisers to focus the presentations and discussion at the conference on topics that represent the frontier of current research in corporate finance and asset pricing. Several places at the symposium are specifically reserved for younger European scholars (based in Europe or overseas).
