We study a unique field experiment in India in which 1.5 million stock investors face lotteries for the random allocation of shares. We find that the winners of these randomly assigned initial public offering (IPO) lottery shares are significantly more likely to hold them than lottery losers 1,...

This paper investigates whether prospect theory (PT) or a preference for lottery-like gains on stocks can explain the peculiarities of IPO returns in China. Chinese IPOs offer investors two potential lottery-like gains. One is potentially huge first day returns as Chinese issuers leave more...