Ralph C. Verhoeks , Willem F.C. Verschoor , Remco C.J. Zwinkels
{"title":"Investor attention and stock markets dynamics: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Ralph C. Verhoeks , Willem F.C. Verschoor , Remco C.J. Zwinkels","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101116","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine the role of pandemic attention in stock market dynamics during the coronavirus pandemic. We show that the amount of attention paid to pandemic news is an important determinant of market dynamics, <em>beyond</em> health news. We find that pandemic attention asymmetrically influences stock market dynamics during the pandemic by negatively contributing to low returns and positively contributing to high returns. Second, pandemic numbers and news sentiment only affect stock returns if sufficient attention is paid to pandemic news. Third, pandemic attention is positively related to stock market volatility and comovement. Finally, we provide evidence that this higher comovement can be explained by limited attention: pandemic attention comes at the cost of attention paid to firm-specific news because investors apply category learning behavior and prioritize market-wide news.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101116"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145267332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Piera Bello , Annalisa Cristini , Elena Manzoni , Federica Origo , Marcello Puca , Caterina Sturaro
{"title":"Women’s empowerment through financial literacy in a developed country","authors":"Piera Bello , Annalisa Cristini , Elena Manzoni , Federica Origo , Marcello Puca , Caterina Sturaro","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101115","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101115","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents the results of a financial literacy intervention conducted in collaboration with two Italian NGOs supporting women in distress, such as those facing unemployment, economic dependency, or domestic abuse. The program consisted of an interactive lecture focused on essential financial concepts, particularly budgeting and savings. Using a phase-in Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design, we assess the impact of this intervention on participants’ financial knowledge and confidence. The findings reveal substantial improvements in both domains, highlighting strong responsiveness to the program. Mediation analysis shows that increases in confidence account for a large share of the observed gains in financial literacy. Furthermore, we identify significant heterogeneity in these outcomes based on women’s socio-demographic characteristics and levels of financial fragility. The intervention has a stronger influence on participants with weaker initial financial literacy, highlighting its potential to reduce knowledge gaps.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101115"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145267333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Communication of ECB Governing Council members: Impact on intraday financial markets from media messages","authors":"Linas Jurkšas, Rokas Kaminskas","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101117","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101117","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The goal of this paper is to determine the heterogeneity in media messages across the ECB Governing Council members, employing the GPT language model, and assess its impact on financial markets with high-frequency data since 2014. Our findings uncover trends in sentiments and topics in line with economic developments and similar studies. We highlight a marked divergence between hawkish and dovish members. Using regression analysis, we demonstrate that the media messages after the communication of Governing Council members significantly influence various euro area asset classes. These effects are material across different periods. Our study also highlights specific topics that exert a more pronounced influence on market dynamics. Hawkish communication is observed to have a more substantial effect on sovereign bond yields. Furthermore, media messages of Executive Board members and the Governors of Germany, France and Austria are found to have the most significant overall impact on euro area markets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101117"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jared Gars , Laura Prada , Egon Tripodi , Santiago Borda
{"title":"Personalized reminders: Evidence from a field experiment with voluntary retirement savings in Colombia","authors":"Jared Gars , Laura Prada , Egon Tripodi , Santiago Borda","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101112","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101112","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A large share of the global workforce lacks access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. In Colombia, where labor informality is high, the government introduced the Beneficios Económicos Periódicos (BEPS) program to promote voluntary retirement savings. However, many enrollees fail to contribute regularly. We conduct a randomized controlled trial with 2819 BEPS users, assigning them to different planning and monthly reminder treatments, where reminders are tailored in their timing. We find that personalized reminders significantly increase both the frequency and amount of savings, with individuals who recognize their forgetfulness more likely to demand reminders. Our findings highlight the role of reminders tailored to individuals’ preferred timing in sustaining engagement in voluntary savings programs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101112"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145267334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personality-driven value investing: The mediating role of financial self-efficacy and versatile cognitive styles","authors":"Fawad Ahmad","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101114","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101114","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The influence of individual psychological and cognitive characteristics on preferences for value versus growth stocks (VSvGS) is not well understood. This study examines the influence of personality traits, financial self-efficacy (FSE), and versatile cognitive styles (VCS) on the choice between VSvGS. Specifically, it examines both the direct effects of personality traits on individual preferences and the indirect effects mediated by FSE and VCS. Data were collected from 351 students across two universities, one in Italy and the other in Pakistan. The results provide a significant positive (negative) direct effect of conscientiousness and openness (extraversion and neuroticism) on the preference for VSvGS. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that conscientiousness and openness (extraversion and neuroticism) have a positive (negative) impact on preferences for VSvGS, mediated by FSE and VCS. Moreover, the results show no significant differences in the impact of personality traits on the preferences for VSvGS between respondents from Italy and Pakistan.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101114"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ben R. Newell , Hazel Bateman , Loretti Dobrescu , Jake Embrey , Rochelle Nian , Susan Thorp
{"title":"Undefined benefit: Projections and anchors as guides to retirement decumulation","authors":"Ben R. Newell , Hazel Bateman , Loretti Dobrescu , Jake Embrey , Rochelle Nian , Susan Thorp","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101113","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101113","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Most defined contribution retirement income systems assume that retiring participants have the know-how and confidence to turn their lump sum savings into life-long income. Surprisingly slow withdrawals by retired defined contribution participants cast doubt on this assumption. In this study, we conduct three rounds of lab-in-the-field experiments that give near-to-retirement defined contribution plan participants updating information about withdrawal plans. We show that income projections induce slightly higher rates of withdrawal but this influence is dominated by income anchors. Supporting participants with basic information and the opportunity to engage in the decision process through interactive education tools has the potential to improve their wellbeing in retirement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101113"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effect of social comparison on debt taking: Experimental evidence","authors":"Antonia Grohmann , Melanie Koch","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101111","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101111","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A number of studies show a link between social comparison and high levels of household debt. However, the exact underlying mechanisms are not yet well understood. In this paper, we disentangle two mechanisms in a lab experiment to study the effects of social image concerns and peer information on debt-financed consumption choices. We find that having to announce their consumption decisions publicly does not make participants more likely to take on debt. However, in an exploratory analysis, we uncover that it makes them more likely to buy a lower quality product than they can afford. We find no significant effects for information about other participants consumption on choices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101111"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145267256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mental framing effects in dynamic portfolio choice","authors":"Enrico De Giorgi , Askhat Omar , Thierry Post","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101109","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101109","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present experimental evidence of systematic decision errors in dynamic portfolio choice. Participants created contingency plans in a lattice model. When returns were independent and identically distributed, most plans were near-optimal for plausible risk preferences. However, under dynamic probabilities, most plans were inefficient, even by First-degree Stochastic Dominance. Allocations showed a lack of sensitivity to probability shifts, consistent with myopic loss aversion. Decision quality improved when participants compared their original plan to precomputed optimal plans. Results highlight the importance of problem framing in dynamic choice and support a libertarian paternalistic approach to choice architecture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101109"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Zero intelligence in an Edgeworth box","authors":"Brett Williams","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101098","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101098","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gode and Sunder (1993) brought a lower-bound to the literature on bounded rationality in the continuous double auction, asserting the institutional rules, rather than the behavior of traders, provide the equilibrating tendencies seen so often in the laboratory. Gode et al. (2004) brought these ‘zero intelligence’ traders to the general equilibrium paradigm as well, though not before a group of studies began questioning whether this new lower-bound was truly void of intelligence. This paper tests the driving assumptions of the general equilibrium adaptation of the zero intelligence model. I find significant variation in market performance when adjusting enforcement of five different assumptions. Enforcement of behavioral-oriented and market-oriented rules show stark differences in their influence on market outcomes, with behavioral-oriented rules providing the most guidance. <span><span><sup>1</sup></span></span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101098"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Under the shield: How directors’ and officers’ liability insurance affects corporate greenwashing","authors":"Chun Tang , Guangyi Yang , Xiaoxing Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101110","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jbef.2025.101110","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The dual-edged nature of Directors’ and Officers’ liability insurance (D&O insurance) draws our attention to exploring how it influences corporate greenwashing by shaping executive behavior. Using data from Chinese listed companies, our results demonstrate that D&O insurance significantly induces corporate greenwashing behavior, with this effect notably mitigated when the insurance announcement emphasizes the company’s interests or includes exemption clauses. We identify that heightened executive moral hazard is the key channel through which this effect operates. The background of executives further distorts the effect of D&O insurance: it is prominent among executive teams with dispersed power, lack of academic and political backgrounds. Further research offers regulators insights on curbing the negative impacts of D&O insurance by highlighting the importance of strengthened regulatory warnings and supervision intensity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47026,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 101110"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}