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...