Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published October 2018 | public
Journal Article

How price path characteristics shape investment behavior

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.

Additional Information

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Received 10 November 2017, Revised 20 July 2018, Accepted 29 July 2018, Available online 17 August 2018.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023