Project Overview

Comparing the need of policy makers, industry and society for knowledge and competence on corporate governance with the available scientific evidence shows that there is a clear gap in Europe.There are a number of explanations for this absolute and relative shortfall in Europe:

	Few early stage researchers are trained in the area of corporate governance in Europe as few universities have the scale and skill to offer advanced level courses. The surveys reveal that a good portion of the pertinent research on Europe was and is conducted by early stage researchers working in the United States, confirming that research and training opportunities in Europe are lacking.
	Data availability in Europe is much more limited than in the US, making empirical research more complicated, suggesting a need for cross-country increased efforts.
	Research on Europe is more complicated because it must take into account a range of governance arrangements that are often rooted in local culture and language.
	Corporate governance research involves elements of economics, finance, management, political economy and law, disciplines that have not traditionally engaged in joint training programmes and the network features nodes in each of these disciplines.

The ECGTN will reduce the European research and training gap in corporate governance by bringing together leading academics and institutions from economics, finance, management, political economy and law in Europe to train doctoral students in conducting world class research in this important area.

The training experience will be enhanced by inclusion of nodes from Turkey, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States, each contributing special expertise and training opportunities. The training experience will be further enhanced by association with the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) an interdisciplinary pan-European research Institute with a wide range of industry contacts, and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the longest standing "think net" in economics and finance in Europe. Together, ECGI and CEPR will bring an even wider group of scholars and training opportunities to the network.