Behavioral Finance and Investor Psychology
Overestimating your financial knowledge doubles your odds of credit card delinquency
A study of nearly 20,000 Americans finds that overrating your own money knowledge is linked to more credit card trouble, but the connection appears weaker for women than for men.
Crypto investors more likely to skip mortgage payments and misuse credit cards, study finds
A new study finds that people who invest in cryptocurrency are more likely to pay mortgages late, misuse credit cards, and borrow from retirement accounts, with the pattern strongest among social media users.
When a “green” surcharge backfires: Why donating fees to charity can undermine the policies they support
A study across a lab experiment and a subway field trial finds that donating surcharge proceeds to charity can substantially weaken the policy's ability to change behavior, unless payers get to pick the beneficiary.
Attention has a price: New research links retail investor interest to earnings management
Do everyday investors influence how companies report profits? A new study finds that retail attention, measured through Google searches, is linked to more earnings management at small firms but less at large ones.
Dark personality traits, work alienation, and the urge to quit
A study of 392 Iraqi bank employees links dark personality traits to the urge to quit, finding that a feeling of disconnection from work helps explain the pull toward the exit.
Do the stars really shape your paycheck? A study of 11 million German records says no
A study of 11 million German employment records finds no link between Western zodiac signs and wages, education, or managerial rank, once seasonal birth patterns are accounted for.
Why some companies fight climate rules while their rivals push for them
Why do carmakers in the same industry lobby on opposite sides of climate policy? A Princeton study of 11,705 firms finds the answer lies in how each company perceives climate change as opportunity, regulation, or physical threat.
Can AI read the market’s mood? Researchers test DeepSeek sentiment scores against Shanghai stock returns
Researchers used the DeepSeek AI model to score 29,077 Chinese financial headlines, then filtered those scores through prospect theory to test whether the results tracked Shanghai Composite Index returns.
Do glowing words really sell? An economist finds a small but real puffery effect on Airbnb
An analysis of $2 billion in Airbnb bookings finds that vague, subjective claims like "charming" and "luxurious" boost reservations about as much as factual details do, without hurting guest ratings.
Do we overestimate how much a raise will improve our lives? A new experiment says yes
A randomized experiment finds that people substantially overestimate how much a raise will improve their life satisfaction, and correcting that belief shifts their stated choices away from higher-income options.