This chapter surveys research on agent-based models used in finance. It will concentrate on models where the use of computational tools is critical for the process of crafting models which give insights into the importance and dynamics of investor heterogeneity in many financial settings.

The paper documents lack of awareness of financial assets in the 1995 and 1998 Bank of Italy Surveys of Household Income and Wealth. It then explores the determinants of awareness, and finds that the probability that survey respondents are aware of stocks, mutual funds and investment accounts is...

We merge administrative information from a large German discount brokerage firm with regional data to examine if financial advisors improve portfolio performance. Our data track accounts of 32,751 randomly selected individual customers over 66 months and allow direct comparison of performance...

We present an intertemporal portfolio choice model where individuals invest in financial literacy, save, allocate their wealth between a safe and a risky asset, and receive a pension when they retire. Financial literacy affects the excess return and the cost of stock market participation. Since...

We merge administrative information from a large German discount brokerage firm with regional data to examine if financial advisors improve portfolio performance. Our data track accounts of 32,751 randomly selected individual customers over 66 months and allow direct comparison of performance...

We formulate a robust theory of liquidity and risk management based on two fundamental frictions: 1) the entrepreneur cannot alienate his human capital, and 2) the entrepreneur worries about model uncertainty and seek robust decisions. In line with max-min expected utility, a robust entrepreneur...

We investigate whether investors tend to form expectations about different categories of assets in a consistent, similar fashion, or whether an investor would apply different models for forming expectations depending on the classification or characteristics of the assets. We investigate the...

In this paper I examine whether one can use analyst forecasts of macroeconomic variables to improve investors ex-ante allocation of wealth between stocks and bonds. Such forecasts provide a forward-looking approach which I find improves investor's information set for the myopic stock-bond...

Recent empirical work on individual portfolio choice focuses on the role of the individual's health in making financial decisions. The key idea is that, through precautionary saving or reducing investors' time horizon, health issues make people choose safer financial portfolios. This paper...

Using the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), a large micro-level dataset on households’ wealth in fifteen euro area countries, this paper explores how households allocate their assets. We derive stylized facts on asset participation as well as levels of asset holdings and...