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Behavioral Biases in Firms' Growth Expectations

Author

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  • Maiko Koga

    (Bank of Japan)

  • Haruko Kato

    (Bank of Japan)

Abstract

This paper provides evidence that firms exhibit behavioral biases in their growth expectations. Using firm-level survey data, we document that optimism and pessimism biases are generated by the business cycle, financial market conditions, and firm-specific factors including firms' past experiences. We also demonstrate that biases affect the real business decisions of firms. Firms' fixed investment and R&D spending are raised by optimism and hampered by pessimism. The above findings imply that behavioral biases generated by the firms can be an alternative mechanism on how macroeconomic and financial conditions affect their investment behavior in addition to the traditional optimization mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Maiko Koga & Haruko Kato, 2017. "Behavioral Biases in Firms' Growth Expectations," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 17-E-9, Bank of Japan.
    • Handle: RePEc:boj:bojwps:wp17e09
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Dovern, Jonas & Müller, Lena Sophia & Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2020. "How Do Firms Form Expectations of Aggregate Growth? New Evidence from a Large-scale Business Survey," Working Papers 15, German Research Foundation's Priority Programme 1859 "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour", Humboldt University Berlin.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Behavioral bias; Expectation; Firm; Investment; Optimism bias; Pessimism bias; Survey data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • E03 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Macroeconomics
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity

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