We design, field and exploit survey data from a representative sample of the French population to examine whether informative social interactions enter households'stockholding decisions. Re- spondents report perceptions about their circle of peers with whom they interact about financial matters,...

Many tests of asset pricing models address only the pricing predictions - but these pricing predictions rest on portfolio choice predictions which seem obviously wrong. This paper suggests a new approach to asset pricing and portfolio choices, based on unobserved heterogeneity. This approach...

Overall, 72 subjects invest their endowment in four risky assets. Each com-bination of assets yields the same expected return and variance of returns. Illusion of expertise prevails when one prefers nevertheless the self-selected portfolio. After being randomly assigned to groups of four...

Financial product ratings are intended to summarize relevant information in a manner that assists in decision-making. Ratings, however, have the potential to be either helpful or harmful. Ratings are often assigned within categories; ratings across categories then may or may not be comparable....

This paper examines the empirical validity of Nicolosi's optimal strategy for a hedge fund manager under a specific payment contract. The contract specifies that the manager's payment consists of a fixed payment and a variable payment, which is a performance-based payment. The model assumes that...