Orthodox financial theory often ignores the role played by managers’ personal characteristics in their decision-making processes. However, as anyone with experience in the business world knows, managers’ personalities are crucial in the choices they make. Indeed, it should be noted that firms do not make decisions, rather it is the managers who decide – either as a group or individually. This book explores the impact of managers’ psychological profiles and life experiences on their financial decisions, taking the following key questions as starting points: Why do they commit mistakes? Why do they contract debt and issue shares? How do they choose the right amount of dividends to distribute? Why do they acquire other firms? Why do they sometimes choose to manipulate information and to commit fraud? As the book highlights, having insights into managers’ psychology is essential to understanding their choices and predicting decisions made by competing firms.

This book provides a concise analysis of behavioural biases and their implications for financial decision making. The book is written in the normative tradition, arguing strongly for the superiority of behavioural finance with respect to explaining observed phenomena in financial markets. It offers some unique features, including a discussion of the issue of conspiracy theory and how behavioural biases lead to belief in conspiracy theories. Lingering belief in the principles of neoclassical finance is attributed in part to the doctrine of publish or perish, which dominates contemporary academia. The offshoots of behavioural finance are discussed in detail, including ecological finance, environmental finance, social finance, experimental finance, neurofinance, and emotional finance. A comprehensive discussion of narcissism is presented where it is demonstrated that narcissistic behaviour is prevalent in the finance industry and that it led to the eruption of the global financial crisis.

Behavioral Finance helps investors understand unusual asset prices and empirical observations originating out of capital markets. At its core, this field of study aids investors in navigating complex psychological trappings in market behavior and making smarter investment decisions. Behavioral Finance and Capital Markets reveals the main foundations underpinning neoclassical capital market and asset pricing theory, as filtered through the lens of behavioral finance. Szyszka presents and classifies many of the dynamic arguments being made in the current literature on the topic through the use of a new, ground-breaking methodology termed: the General Behavioral Asset Pricing Model (GBM). GBM describes how asset prices are influenced by various behavioral heuristics and how these prices deviate from fundamental values due to irrational behavior on the part of investors. The connection between psychological factors responsible for irrational behavior and market pricing anomalies is featured extensively throughout the text. Alternative explanations for various theoretical and empirical market puzzles - such as the 2008 U.S. financial crisis - are also discussed in a convincing and interesting manner. The book also provides interesting insights into behavioral aspects of corporate finance.

A concrete guide that links the theory of behavioral finance with applications in financial products Behavioral finance is a rapidly expanding field, with major implications for the way in which the investment process is conducted. Behavioural Finance links the concepts of behavioral finance to measurable variables and smarter investment decision making. Comprehensive coverage relating theory to practical investment analysis provides a usable, practical guide for real-world situations.

An in-depth look into the various aspects of behavioral finance Behavioral finance applies systematic analysis to ideas that have long floated around the world of trading and investing. Yet it is important to realize that we are still at a very early stage of research into this discipline and have much to learn. That is why Edwin Burton has written Behavioral Finance: Understanding the Social, Cognitive, and Economic Debates. Engaging and informative, this timely guide contains valuable insights into various issues surrounding behavioral finance. Topics addressed include noise trader theory and models, research into psychological behavior pioneered by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, and serial correlation patterns in stock price data. Along the way, Burton shares his own views on behavioral finance in order to shed some much-needed light on the subject. Discusses the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and its history, and presents the background of the emergence of behavioral finance Examines Shleifer's model of noise trading and explores other literature on the topic of noise trading Covers issues associated with anomalies and details serial correlation from the perspective of experts such as DeBondt and Thaler A companion Website contains supplementary material that allows you to learn in a hands-on fashion long after closing the book In order to achieve better investment results, we must first overcome our behavioral finance biases. This book will put you in a better position to do so.

A definitive guide to the growing field of behavioral finance This reliable resource provides a comprehensive view of behavioral finance and its psychological foundations, as well as its applications to finance. Comprising contributed chapters written by distinguished authors from some of the most influential firms and universities in the world, Behavioral Finance provides a synthesis of the most essential elements of this discipline, including psychological concepts and behavioral biases, the behavioral aspects of asset pricing, asset allocation, and market prices, as well as investor behavior, corporate managerial behavior, and social influences. Uses a structured approach to put behavioral finance in perspective Relies on recent research findings to provide guidance through the maze of theories and concepts Discusses the impact of sub-optimal financial decisions on the efficiency of capital markets, personal wealth, and the performance of corporations Behavioral finance has quickly become part of mainstream finance. If you need to gain a better understanding of this topic, look no further than this book.