We propose a Marshallian model for price and allocation adjustments in parallel continuous double auctions. Agents quote prices that they expect will maximize local utility improvements. The process generates Pareto optimal allocations in the limit. In experiments designed to induce CAPM...

Rational economics and finance surmise that choices decree from a conscious arbitration between alternatives based on decision-theoretically computed values. Implicit in the computation of these option values are the perception and integration of different mathematical components (e.g.,...

We introduce an experimental design where arbitrage opportunities emerge reliably and repeatedly. We observe significantly higher sell-side than buy-side arbitrage opportunities. We study ways to mitigate them. Relaxing margin requirements, shortsale restrictions, or both have neither...

Since the global financial crisis, finance academics have increasingly been criticised for developing and teaching irrelevant theories. This opinion paper argues that there is nothing necessarily wrong with the theories, but with the way empirical evidence is collected. For the vast majority,...

In one of the early attempts to model stochastic volatility, Clark [1973] conjectured that the size of asset price movements is tied to the rate at which transactions occur. To formally analyze the econometric implications, he distinguished between transaction time and calendar time. The present...

We use measures of neural activity provided by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the "realization utility" theory of investor behavior, which posits that people derive utility directly from the act of realizing gains and losses. Subjects traded stocks in an experimental market...

Financial decision making is the outcome of complex neurophysiological processes involving, among others, constant re-evaluation of the statistics of the problem at hand, balancing of the various emotional aspects, and computation of the very value signals that are at the core of modern economic...

Extensive research in neuroscience proves that rational decision-making depends on accurate anticipative emotions. We test this proposition in the context of financial markets. We replicate a multi-period trading game that reliably generates bubbles, while tracking participants' heart rate and...

We study information aggregation in financial markets. We introduce two new stability concepts: absolute stability (sensitivity of rational expectations equilibrium prices to signals (bits) that are lost or garbled), and relative stability (the difference between prices in the rational...