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Second-order beliefs and the individual investor

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  • Egan, Daniel
  • Merkle, Christoph
  • Weber, Martin

Abstract

In a panel survey of individual investors, we show that investors’ second-order beliefs—their beliefs about the return expectations of other investors—influence investment decisions. Investors who believe others hold more optimistic stock market expectations allocate more of their own portfolio to stocks even after controlling for their own risk and return expectations. However, second-order beliefs are inaccurate and exhibit several well-known psychological biases. We observe both the tendency of investors to believe that their own opinion is relatively more common among the population (false consensus) and that others who hold divergent beliefs are considered to be biased (bias blind spot).

Suggested Citation

  • Egan, Daniel & Merkle, Christoph & Weber, Martin, 2014. "Second-order beliefs and the individual investor," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 652-666.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:107:y:2014:i:pb:p:652-666
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2014.04.001
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    2. Firth, Chris, 2020. "Protecting investors from themselves: Evidence from a regulatory intervention," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
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    4. Yue Dong & Jiepeng Wang & Tingqiang Chen, 2019. "Price Linkage Rumors in the Stock Market and Investor Risk Contagion on Bilayer-Coupled Networks," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-21, April.
    5. Merkle, Christoph & Egan, Daniel P. & Davies, Greg B., 2015. "Investor happiness," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 167-186.
    6. Henning Hermes & Daniel Schunk, 2022. "If you could read my mind–an experimental beauty-contest game with children," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(1), pages 229-253, February.
    7. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Xiao Yin, 2024. "Higher-Order Beliefs and Risky Asset Holdings," NBER Working Papers 32680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Khan, Mohammad Tariqul Islam & Tan, Siow-Hooi & Chong, Lee-Lee, 2017. "How past perceived portfolio returns affect financial behaviors—The underlying psychological mechanism," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1478-1488.
    9. Gagnon-Bartsch, Tristan & Rosato, Antonio, 2022. "Quality is in the eye of the beholder: taste projection in markets with observational learning," MPRA Paper 115426, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Jungsuk Han & Albert S. Kyle, 2018. "Speculative Equilibrium with Differences in Higher-Order Beliefs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4317-4332, September.
    11. Sara Negrelli, 2018. "Bubbles and Persuasion with Second Order Uncertainty," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1876, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    12. Negrelli, Sara, 2020. "Bubbles and persuasion with uncertainty over market sentiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 67-85.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Second-order beliefs; Expectations; Naive realism; False consensus effect; Bias blind spot; Beauty contest;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G17 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Financial Forecasting and Simulation

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