Behavioral Finance and Investor Psychology
When inheritances shrink inequality, and when they widen it: A six-country look at the tipping point
A six-country study pinpoints where inheritances stop narrowing wealth gaps and start widening them, then compares those thresholds to each nation's inheritance tax exemptions.
Why winning makes some gamblers bet bigger: the psychological traits behind the “house money” effect
A study linking Finnish betting records to decades-old personality and IQ tests finds that winners tend to bet bigger next time, but the effect is sharper for extraverts and weaker for those high in intelligence or conscientiousness.
Why people think bankers are greedier than students (and why they may be wrong)
A large online experiment pitted finance professionals against students in a game where one person could take money from 16 victims. Professionals did not rob more, despite widespread beliefs that they would.
Packing products tightly on shelves makes shoppers grab more flavors
Four experiments find shoppers pick a wider mix of products when items sit close together on display. The pattern traces back to how spacing shapes visual attention.
The brain chemical behind your money moves: How dopamine shapes financial choices
A new review pulls together decades of research on how dopamine shapes financial decisions, from risk-taking to fairness to learning from feedback.
Can AI read the room? How news sentiment signals which stocks will bounce back after a crash
A new study of 2.7 million news articles finds that AI-generated sentiment scores can help distinguish temporary stock crashes from lasting declines, though the signal is getting faster.
When optimism mutes the message: How investor mood shapes crypto’s response to economic news
A study of 100 cryptocurrencies and 32 U.S. economic releases finds that bullish investor sentiment significantly weakens how sharply crypto prices and trading volumes react to macroeconomic news.
Why nominal interest rates bite harder than textbooks suggest
New research argues that fixed nominal mortgage payments and payment-to-income limits mean nominal interest rates directly affect what households can borrow, independent of real rates, with implications for housing markets and macro models.
The psychology of “manifesting”: Why believers feel more successful but often aren’t
A new scale measuring belief in "manifestation" finds that about a third of Americans endorse it. Believers feel more successful and optimistic, but show no higher income or education, and take more financial risks.
When a CEO’s foreign accent becomes an asset: What investors actually hear
An experiment using AI-generated CEO voices finds that investors were willing to invest more in companies led by foreign-accented CEOs — but only when those CEOs had a strong pre-existing reputation.