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.