This paper sheds new light on retail investors' risk-return trade-off. Existing evidence from surveys suggests that households expect lower returns, i.e., lower risk compensation, in bad times. Using a direct measure of retail investors' subjective discount rates, we nevertheless find that...

The crypto boom and crash of 2020-22 demonstrated that (i) cryptocurrencies with fluctuating values are extremely risky and highly volatile assets, and (ii) cryptocurrencies known as “stablecoins” are vulnerable to systemic runs whenever there are serious doubts about the adequacy of...

Contrary to the current state of research, we find almost complete reinvestment of dividends among the brokerage clients of a German online bank. Yet, investors do not reinvest most dividends immediately after payment. Initially, the bulk of dividends remains parked as cash in investors’...

We conduct a novel survey of 2,548 nationally representative U.S. respondents to estimate subjective risk-return trade-offs in savings, government bonds, stocks, real estate, gold, and cryptocurrencies. We document a robust negative relationship between respondents’ perceptions of the risk and...

Firms offering "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) point-of-sale installment loans with minimal underwriting and low interest have captured a growing fraction of the market for short-term unsecured consumer credit. We provide a detailed look into the US BNPL market by constructing a large panel of BNPL...

This letter responds to the U.S. Treasury Department’s request for public comments on President Biden’s Executive Order No. 14067, “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” (Mar. 9, 2022). This letter contends that (1) digital stablecoins currently pose significant risks to...

In November 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) issued a report analyzing the rapid expansion and growing risks of the stablecoin market. PWG’s report determined that stablecoins pose a wide range of potential hazards, including the risks of inflicting large losses...

We provide the first academic study on the performance of IRA pension plans from 2004 through 2018. At the aggregate level, the risk-adjusted performances of IRA plans are comparable to that of the aggregate equity market. However, high-income individuals substantially outperform low-income...

Improved awareness and ageing populations make the exploitation of older persons a growing concern for the finance sector and public policy, especially regarding retirement wealth accumulation. Concurrently, social impact reporting is motivating the banking sector to actively intervene when...