Adam Smith Workshop
About Adam Smith Workshop
The Adam Smith Workshop is a regular event organized jointly by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), EDHEC Business School, HEC Paris, Imperial College Business School, INSEAD, London Business School, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Saïd Business School (University of Oxford).
The Adam Smith Workshop started c. 2004. The main objective of the conference was to give young researchers the opportunity to present their work and get feedback from more senior researchers, and also to see top-quality research in the area of Financial Economics from all over the world.
In the early years, the workshop was held twice a year, and the workshop covered papers mostly in the areas related to asset pricing. Since 2012, the Adam Smith Workshop has been held once a year, but with two parallel streams, one covering papers related to Asset Pricing and the other covering papers related to Corporate Finance. There is also a "joint session," which includes papers that are of interest to researchers in the areas of both Asset Pricing and Corporate Finance.
About Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Adam Smith was a British economist along with being a philosopher, which, in the old days, often went hand in hand. He lived from around 1723 to 1790 and was a student at Balliol College, Oxford University (which is where Tarun Ramadorai was working when we launched the Adam Smith Workshop).
Adam Smith is often referred to as the ''Father of Economics'' and is best known for his book ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,'' which was published in 1776. The key ideas developed in this book are that of absolute advantage, division of labor, rational self-interest, and competition. Adam Smith argued that these forces can lead to economic progress, without the explicit need for intervention from an external agency. You can read more about Adam Smith on Wikipedia.
Adam Smith was recognized for his work in a number of ways. In 2007, the Bank of England printed his image on the 20 pound note, which is the background image on the top of each page on this web site. You can read more about this 20 pound note on the Bank of England web site.
Inspired by the brilliant insights that Adam Smith had so many years ago, we thought that it would be appropriate to name the workshop after him.
