This paper experimentally investigates how fair value measurements of financial instruments affect the decision of nonprofessional investors to invest in a bank’s shares. Specifically, we assess how investors respond to variations in net income resulting from fair value adjustments in trading...

What determines risk-bearing capacity and the amount of leverage in financial markets? Using unique archival data on collateralized lending, we show that personal experience can affect individual risk-taking and aggregate leverage. When an investor syndicate speculating in Amsterdam in 1772 went...

Major bubble episodes are rare events. In this paper, we examine what factors might cause some asset price bubbles to become very large. We recreate, in a laboratory setting, some of the specific institutional features investors in the South Sea Company faced in 1720. Several factors have been...