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How price path characteristics shape investment behavior

Sven Nolte and Judith C. Schneider

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2018, vol. 154, issue C, 33-59

Abstract: Price paths are often the only graphical representation of financial products investors receive before making an investment decision. We argue that price paths serve as ”graphical” frames that influence the perceived attractiveness of an asset by highlighting specific asset characteristics. In a controlled lab experiment we find that price paths have an impact on investment decisions. In a regression we test a simple model relating the perception of price path shapes to several heuristics. These heuristics are: focusing on more recent outcomes, deriving implicit reference prices from focal prices, focusing on losses, and estimating risk from the amplitude of the path. We conclude that investment decisions are systematically biased due to the shape of an asset’s price path.

Keywords: Experiment; Price paths; Behavioral investment choice; Reference point; Attribute framing; Loss aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:154:y:2018:i:c:p:33-59

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2018.07.018

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Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D.

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