Multiplicative growth processes that are subject to random shocks often have an asymmetric distribution of outcomes. In a series of incentivized laboratory experiments we show that a large majority of participants either strongly underestimate the asymmetry or ignore it completely. Participants...

I test a set of predictions that constitute an identity theory of choice under risk using large-scale artefactual field experiments. Men whose identity is primed or threatened invest more in risky opportunities than other men and women. They become overconfident even in pure games of chance with...

Multiplicative growth processes that are subject to random shocks often have a skewed distribution of outcomes. In a number of incentivized laboratory experiments we show that a large majority of participants either strongly underestimate skewness or ignore it completely. Participants...

Price charts are pervasively used in today's security analysis. In this paper, we argue that where there is a chart, there is more or less an intuitive chartist whose forecasts are partly based on his or her chart intuition. Asking subjects to forecast simulated stock price series, we find...

Disposition effect is one phenomenon in behavioral finance that describes investor tendency to sell winner stocks too early and hold loser stocks too long. The purpose of this paper is to examine the disposition effect from investor perspective when they respond to short-run and long-run return...

This study examines strategic mortgage default on a neurological level. Specifically, we test two mainstream behavioral finance/economic theories: sunk cost fallacy and cognitive dissonance. Using fMRI technology, we identify a number of substrates within the brain that provide a neurobiological...

An enduring issue in financial reporting is whether and how salient summary measures of firm performance (“earnings metrics”) affect market price efficiency. In laboratory markets, we test the effects of salient earnings metrics, which vary in how they combine persistent and transitory...

This paper addresses the concern that why is ‘money' treated as a unique asset in the finance literature. The paper intends to do this by invoking contemporary and recent theories from the literature on behavioral and experimental economics and finance. The paper uses these theories to...

We assess the impact of cognitive abilities on withdrawal decisions in a bank-run game. In our setup, depositors choose sequentially between withdrawing or keeping their funds deposited in a common bank. They may observe previous decisions depending on the information structure. Theoretically,...

We document that an internal locus of control can be hindering in financial market situations, where short-term outcomes are determined by chance. The reason is that internally controlled individuals may tend to (over-)react to random outcomes. Our evidence is based on an experiment in which...