Behavioral Finance and Investor Psychology
How a regional bank measured the “mental tax” of financial decisions
A field experiment with 600 elderly bank customers in China tested whether AI-generated messages could reduce the mental effort of financial decisions, cutting fraud transfers and boosting safe-product adoption.
Minimum wage hikes don’t crush small business profits, tax-records study finds
A study using the universe of U.S. tax returns finds independent businesses absorb minimum wage hikes through higher revenue, not layoffs or lower profits, while fewer new firms enter the market.
Researchers tested whether peer pressure drives debt. The answer was messier than expected.
A lab experiment designed to untangle why peers influence borrowing found the opposite of what researchers expected: when choices were public, high performers spent less, not more, leaving money on the table.
Personality beats knowledge as a predictor of crypto investment, study finds
A survey of 460 university students in Pakistan found that personality traits predicted cryptocurrency investing better than tested financial knowledge did, with openness and extraversion linked to participation and conscientiousness linked to caution.
Why some people can’t stop working, even when they want to
A study of 43 professionals who can't stop working traces the habit back to childhood. Researchers find that an internalized "doer" identity, built to survive early demands, can quietly generate the very distress people suffer at work.
Your financial planner has biases too, and they may shape what you hear about your house
A survey of 479 Canadian financial planners finds that their own behavioral biases, especially mental accounting and herding, are linked to how they rank retirement income options, including whether they would recommend tapping home equity.
Coffee shop calorie labels shift beliefs but not behavior, study finds
A study tested whether printing calorie counts on coffee shop menus changes what people order. The labels shifted beliefs and improved calorie knowledge, but did not significantly change what participants chose to buy.
Do small gestures on a restaurant check boost tips in Turkey the way they do in America?
Three field experiments in Istanbul tested whether classic American tipping tricks, like writing "thank you" or drawing a smiley on a check, work in a non-WEIRD setting. They did, but Turkish tips ran far smaller overall.
Does geopolitics decide where companies invest? New evidence says increasingly yes
A new study finds that political distance between countries weighs more heavily on foreign investment than a decade ago. But the friendshoring trend is mostly a Western phenomenon, and it reaches far beyond strategic industries.
Feeling thankful, wanting less: How gratitude quiets the pull of money
Four preregistered studies with over 3,000 participants found that gratitude reduces how much people want money, working through stronger feelings of social connection and a sense of purpose beyond the self.