In 2005, a drastic reform in the Israeli capital market shifted the power to choose savings vehicles from employers to individuals. Using a unique dataset from a large employer, this event provides us a rare window into individuals' savings decisions and the effect of their social environment....

Mutual funds grant retail investors access to professional asset management and facilitate exposure to financial markets. The academic literature and regulators have traditionally focused on issues such as portfolio diversification, performance, liquidity, and management fees in attempts to...

This paper investigates the stock market reaction to a change in investor mood following the Eurovision Song Contest—an annual international song competition and one of the most-watched non-sporting events globally. Contrary to existing literature on international competitions, we find a...

This research examines the seminal heuristic of anchoring and adjustment and its effects on personal bankruptcy proceedings. Using a unique and detailed database of bankruptcy files we analyze the effect of the official receiver's recommendation on court decisions. The official receiver in...

Financial crime, often referred to as “white-collar” crime, is a severe issue all around the world. A recent FBI survey found that in the preceding twelve months, approximately one in every four United States citizens had fallen victim to financial crime in one form or another (fraud, money...

A vast body of academic literature deals with banks' optimal loan allocations. The general approach to solving this problem is to assume borrowers' portfolios as given. Although this assumption is reasonable in the corporate sector, the situation differs radically in the mortgage markets, where...

We studied the effect of the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on stock markets around the globe. Using a detailed cross-country daily returns data set we found that (a) market returns on the day following the clock shift were significantly lower than the corresponding day of a week unaffected...