In times of low interest rates, bank customers must try to diversify their portfolios. Nevertheless, customers usually stick to traditional investments and do not take advantage of stock-market potentials. This is mostly due to irrational reasons. Banks also have a strong interest in...

Investors' return expectations are pivotal in stock markets, but the reasoning behind these expectations remains a black box for economists. This paper sheds light on economic agents' mental models - their subjective understanding - of the stock market, drawing on surveys with the US general...

This scientific working paper explains the influence of four selected cognitive biases regarding the investment behaviour of German private shareholders. In detail, it contains a theoretical treatment, as well as an empirical impact study of these four biases. Starting with the definition of...