An Empirical Study on the Validity of the Availability Huristics and Anchoring Huristics in the Korean Stock Market

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to compare and review behavioral economics models that explain stock price changes after large-scale price shocks in the Korean stock market and to find a suitable model. In this paper, among the theories reviewed, it was confirmed that the anchoring heuristics theory has high explanatory power for stock prices after large-scale stock price fluctuations. Design/methodology/approach - This paper conducts an event study on stock price shocks in which the individual stocks that make up the KOSPI200 index show more than 10% fluctuation on a daily basis. In order to materialize the abstract predictions of heuristics theories in a varifiable form, this paper uses the daily stock price index change as a reference point for availability heuristics, and uses the 52-week highest and lowest price as reference point for anchoring heuristics. Research implications or Originality - As a result of the empirical analysis, the stock price reversals did not consistently appear for changes in the daily index. On the other hand, the stock price drifts consistently appeared around the 52-week highest and the 52-week lowest price. And in the multiple regression analysis that controlled for company-specific and event-specific variables, the results that supported the anchoring heuristics were more evident. These results suggest that it is possible to establish an investment strategy using large-scale price change in Korean stock market.