DFG Research Group "Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin)" to be funded for another four years
The research group LawFin, co-directed by economist Rainer Haselmann and lawyer Tobias Tröger, aims to improve understanding of the interplay between (financial) markets and the legal order as a dynamically evolving system. It also aims to show how theoretical and empirical financial economics and legal research can best reflect the insights gained.
With this objective in mind, during the first funding phase (November 2018 to October 2023), the research group established a global network of researchers of different seniority, closely integrated across disciplines, despite the pandemic-related obstacles. In this network, methodological questions of principle and concrete research projects were intensively discussed, initiated, and advanced.
“We are very pleased to be able to continue our successful work with our Fellows,” says Rainer Haselmann, Professor of Financial Economics at Goethe University Frankfurt and Research Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE. “The interdisciplinary discourse among top scholars in our fields, who attend LawFin from leading universities and research institutions worldwide, provides a unique basis in Europe for close cooperation across disciplinary boundaries,” adds Tobias Tröger.
Deficits of “green” financial market regulation under scrutiny
Even in its comparatively short history, LawFin has established itself as a globally visible institution with a clear profile. The Executive Director of the House of Finance, Rainer Klump, confirms: “LawFin fulfills the fundamental purpose of our institution because interdisciplinary cooperation at the highest level is possible within the framework of the research group.” The close collaboration between the researchers of the Kolleg research group, the participating departments of the Goethe University Frankfurt, and the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE also demonstrates the importance of LawFin for the cross-fertilization of financial market research in Frankfurt.
In the second funding phase, the aim is to consolidate and continue the achievements and highlight the potential and deficits of “green” financial market regulation for achieving ecological sustainability goals. Haselmann and Tröger emphasize that they are not chasing a fashionable trend. Instead, they intend to use the interdisciplinary expertise gained in the first funding phase and the network of fellows created to shed light on the interrelationships that determine the success of regulatory measures. Without a synthesis of legal knowledge about the functioning of institutions with the quantitative methods of empirical financial market research, there is a danger that important determinants for a successful “greening” of financial markets will remain hidden.
“LawFin’s original qualities allow it to address directly socially relevant research contributions to one of the great challenges of our time in a way that fits perfectly into Goethe University’s broader research profile,” says University President Enrico Schleiff.
