Money illusion refers to the tendency to evaluate economic transactions in nominal rather than real terms. One manifestation of this phenomenon is the tendency to neglect future inflation in intertemporal investment decisions. Empirical evidence for this “inflation ignorance” is hard to...

In retirement planning, the ignorance of inflation – so-called money illusion – can have severe consequences for future financial wellbeing. It thus seems important to make private investors aware of the divergence between future nominal wealth and real purchasing power. Surprisingly,...

Previous research shows that individuals make systematic errors when judging exponential growth, which has harmful effects for their financial well-being. This study analyzes in how far individuals are aware of their errors and how these errors are shaped by arithmetic and conceptual problems....

Inadequate consideration of inflation when making long-term financial decisions – so-called money illusion – can have severe consequences for future financial wellbeing. Thus, it is essential to understand how different methods of informing private investors about inflation affect their...

We examine the time-series and cross-section of stock market risk premia from the perspective of financial analysts. Our novel approach is based on the notion that analysts' stock recommendations reflect both their subjective return expectations and their perceived stock risk. Thus, we can...

We split up the standard momentum return over months t-12 to t-2 at the highest stock price within this formation period. Of the overall momentum profits in month t, 84% can be attributed to the return prior to this peak price although research has exclusively focused on the post-peak return so...

Since the financial crisis of 2008, risk-free interest rates are at historical lows and even turned negative in some developed countries. We study experimentally how such changes in the interest rate regime affect the risk-taking of individual investors. Keeping the risk premium constant, we...

We study how macroeconomic growth experienced throughout a person's lifetime affects the decision to participate in the stock market, and how this interacts with political education. For people who have been raised in the market economy of the Federal Republic of Germany, we find that...