Behavioral Finance
Behavioral Finance
Behavioral Finance
Behavioral Finance
People are rational in standard finance. People are normal in Behavioral finance. Normal people: commit cognitive errors Affected by frames Know the pain of regret Are both risk averse and risk seeking Cause bubbles in Markets
Behavioral finance research focuses on how investors make decisions to buy and sell securities, and how they choose between alternatives.
Market Efficiency
Two meanings Price equals (fundamental) value. You cannot beat the market (so buy and hold). The bubble of the late 1990s proves that the market is not efficient. In the sense that price equals value But, can you predict when the bubble will burst? It is very difficult.
Representativeness Heuristic
The representativeness heuristic takes one characteristic of a company and extends it to other aspects of the firm. In particular, many investors believe a well-run company represents a good investment. Mental Short-cuts used to solve complex problems.
Anchoring
Our decisions can be influenced by extraneous information contained in the problem statement. For example, investors tend to remember the price they paid for a stock, and this information influences their subsequent decisions about what to do with it.
AnchoringEarnings Estimates
Analysts may be anchored to old EPS estimates. Cockroach theory of earnings surprises. When good (or bad) announcements are made, other good (or bad) surprises follow. Analysts may be anchored and not understand the series of surprises to follow.
Prospect Theory
Risk averse investors get increasing utility from higher levels of wealth, but at a decreasing rate. Research shows that while risk aversion may accurately describe investor behavior with gains, investors often show risk seeking behavior when they face a loss
Mental Accounting
Mental accounting refers to our tendency to put things in boxes and track them individually. For example, investors tend to differentiate between dividend and capital dollars, and between realized and unrealized gains
Availability Heuristic
The availability heuristic is the contention that things that are easier to remember are thought to be more common.
Conclusions
The Markets are not as Efficient as we once thought Investors should recognize the psychological, non-rational nature of people. We need to guard against the overreactions of markets caused by mental shortcuts, etc.
Warren Buffett, etc. Need to Understand the Business Mr. Market is sometimes give high quotes and sometimes gives low quotes. Choose the price that is lower than your idea of Intrinsic Value (with a margin of safety because you are apt to make a mistake from time to time) More than a EMH Anomaly