This study tests the rationality of the decisions to purchase information, the informational efficiency of prices, and the optimality of the resulting allocations with a series of laboratory experiments in decentralized markets. The theory predicts that markets with dispersed information and...

The non-medical use of pharmaceuticals such as methylphenidate and modafinil for cognitive enhancement has been explored in college students, medical students and various professions in the US and Europe. We present results of an anonymous online survey of such use among members of the...

The excessive volatility of prices in financial markets is one of the most pressing puzzles in social science. It has led many to question economic theory, which attributes beneficial effects to markets in the allocation of risks and the aggregation of information. In exploring its causes, we...

Financial decision making under time pressure, though ubiquitous, is poorly understood; classical and behavioral finance are silent about the time required for a decision to be made. In an experiment, calibrating allowable decision times to 1, 3, and 5 s, we find that classical moment-based...

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...