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Nonrational Actors and Financial Market Behavior

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  • Richard Zeckhauser
  • Jayendu Patel
  • Darryll Hendricks

Abstract

The insights of descriptive decision theorists and psychologists, we believe, have much to contribute to our understanding of financial market macrophenomena. We propose an analytic agenda that distinguishes those individual idiosyncrasies that prove consequential at the macro-level from those that are neutralized by market processes such as poaching. We discuss five behavioral traits - barn-door closing, expert/reliance effects, status quo bias, framing, and herding - that we employ in explaining financial flows. Patterns in flows to mutual funds, to new equities, across national boundaries, as well as movements in debt-equity ratios are shown to be consistent with deviations from rationality.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Zeckhauser & Jayendu Patel & Darryll Hendricks, 1991. "Nonrational Actors and Financial Market Behavior," NBER Working Papers 3731, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3731
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    Cited by:

    1. Kelly, Morgan, 1997. "Do Noise Traders Influence Stock Prices?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(3), pages 351-363, August.
    2. Wei He & Qian Wang, 2020. "The peer effect of corporate financial decisions around split share structure reform in China," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 474-493, July.
    3. Ritika & Nawal Kishor, 2020. "Development and validation of behavioral biases scale: a SEM approach," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 237-259, November.
    4. Goriaev, A.P. & Nijman, T.E. & Werker, B.J.M., 2002. "The Dynamics of the Impact of Past Performance on Mutual Fund Flows," Discussion Paper 2002-2, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    5. Michael Collins, J. & Urban, Carly, 2014. "The dark side of sunshine: Regulatory oversight and status quo bias," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 470-486.
    6. Dariusz Filip, 2021. "A Review of Main Strands on the Flow-Performance Relationship of Mutual Funds," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 7(3), pages 245-256, July.
    7. Wong, Kacheng & Zhao, Longkai, 2023. "Customer–supplier relationships and non-linear financial policy response," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 180-205.
    8. Jiali Liu & Xinran Xie & Yu Duan & Liang Tang, 2023. "Peer effects and the mechanisms in corporate capital structure: evidence from Chinese listed firms," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 14(1), pages 295-326, March.
    9. Stephan Schulmeister, 2000. "Technical Analysis and Exchange Rate Dynamics," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 25857, April.
    10. Navone, Marco, 2012. "Investors’ distraction and strategic repricing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1291-1303.
    11. Navone, Marco, 2012. "Reprint of Investors’ distraction and strategic repricing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 2729-2741.
    12. Goriaev, Alexei & Nijman, Theo E. & Werker, Bas J.M., 2008. "Performance information dissemination in the mutual fund industry," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 144-159, May.
    13. Kelly, Morgan, 1995. "All their eggs in one basket: Portfolio diversification of US households," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 87-96, June.
    14. Park, Kwangho & Yang, Insun & Yang, Taeyong, 2017. "The peer-firm effect on firm’s investment decisions," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 178-199.
    15. Zhang, Junhuan, 2018. "Influence of individual rationality on continuous double auction markets with networked traders," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 495(C), pages 353-392.
    16. Harless, David W. & Peterson, Steven P., 1998. "Investor behavior and the persistence of poorly-performing mutual funds," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 257-276, November.
    17. Alessie, Rob & Hochguertel, Stefan & van Soest, Arthur, 2006. "Non-take-up of tax-favored savings plans: Evidence from Dutch employees," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 483-501, August.
    18. L. Franklin Fant & Edward S. O'Neal, 2000. "Temporal Changes In The Determinants Of Mutual Fund Flows," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 23(3), pages 353-371, September.
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