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Challenges for the market efficiency
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Introduction Although, behavioral finance and market efficiency are topics that may seem separate and different, they both work conjointly. Finance has always been imagined to be a subject of numbers, calculations, spreadsheets and everything that encompasses investing. By glancing over the title of this paper, one could assume that the topic is related to a psychology or behavioral class more than finance. However, by researching the topic, it is clear that finance relies on behavioral sciences and psychological understanding more than expected. In the following paper, behavioral finance will be explained properly and the different examples of behavioral finance will be listed along with some examples to illustrate the significance of …show more content…
Behavioral finance is a topic that builds a bridge that connects two different fields together and enables one field, finance, to evolve and expand into the world of psychology to enable a more efficient and stable market. To simply explain behavioral finance, it is a psychological method to better understand how individuals choose their investment outlets and make decisions financially (Qawi, 2010). With such information, a better financial environment can be created to simplify the way individuals invest their savings or spend their monies. Behavioral finance and market efficiency are two issues that are currently debated amongst the investors and economists. The reasoning behind the heightened interest towards behavioral finance and market efficiency is for understanding whether the share price in the market reflects the company’s value in the marketplace. Furthermore, it helps investors understand the types of trading strategy that would be most efficient in the market and how to take advantage of these specific shares (Phung,
As a recipient of many prestigious awards, including a Nobel Prize, psychologist Daniel Kahneman has worked rigorously for nearly 45 years to advance the way in which we understand human cognitive processes. Kahneman and his long time colleague, Amos Tversky, began working together in the 1970s and almost immediately began making an impact within the field of behavioral economics. These contributions centered around the notion of human irrationality, or the basis we subconsciously use to make decisions each day. Beginning with their discovery of anchoring effect, Kahneman and Tversky went on to uncover many intuitive theories that helped evolve the field of behavioral economics into what it is today. Of equal importance, Kahneman produced
Imagine a challenge that tests our ideas about money and how we respond to it under certain conditions. This test involves the auction of a twenty-dollar bill with very simple rules. The highest bidder will get the bill and the second highest bidder receives nothing but pays the amount of the losing bid. As the test progresses players in the room bid above the face value ending the bid at twenty-eight dollars. The question now is, ‘Why would anyone want to pay above the face value?’ Behavioral economists believe that when decisions are made on value, the human mind often behaves irrationally. People judge value based on prior knowledge fed to them at some point in their lives and not something thoroughly researched. This is the kind of misinformed
Growth and value investing are two distinct styles of investing that have spurred interest from investors and academics alike. Scholars have come to agree that value investment strategies, on average, outperform growth investment strategies (Chan et al., 2004, p.71). However, the underlying cause of this discrepancy in performance is still highly debated. In Chan and Lakonishoks’ (2004) research they dismantle the argument that the performance differential is a result of a difference of risk and look towards behavioral theories that can explain the superior value investing strategy. The researchers hypothesize that individual investors have a tendency to use simple heuristics in picking a security, resulting in a selection of securities with recent high earnings yet a lack of consistent earnings (p.76-77). This behavioral analysis parallels Statman’s (2004) use of behavioral analysis of the tendency for individual investors to utilize simple heuristics in their decision to not diversify their portfolios (p. 44). Chan and Lakonishoks’ (2004) use of the behavioral theory to call to attention an excellent explanation for the improved performance with value stocks indirectly bolsters Statman’s conjectural use of the behavioral theory to justify the lack of diversification amongst individual
Before the theories of behavioral economics clarified by Daniel Kahneman, economics was a generally straightforward field. Adding this new approach to consumer behavior makes us seem less like robots acting only as economics expects us to act and more like the more or less irrational beings we are. Daniel Kahneman is one of only a couple non-economists and the first psychologist to win the Nobel prize in Economics for his work in the relatively new field of behavioral economics.
Shermer, Michael. The mind of the market: how biology and psychology shape our economic lives. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2009. Print.
The documentary Mind Over Money by Malcolm Clark attempts to explore the differences between rational and behavioral economists to try and see if emotions play a role in economics. By doing a series of experiment that concluded that emotions do have an effect on our decision-making skills. The behavioral economist believes that people operate quite irrationally. People have impulses and habits that they cannot control, we buy things based more on the instant satisfaction of owning something without thinking of the future consequences of owning something now.
Comparing the Behavioral Perspective and the Cognitive Perspective The behavioral perspective is the idea that if psychology was to be a science, then it must focus on events, which are directly observable on behavior, rather than on mental life. The behavioral perspective maintains the primary emphasis on observable behavior and its relation to environmental events. Behavioral perspective is through reinforcement, which is the idea that patterns of emitted behavior can be selected by their consequences. Cognitive perspective is centered on the description of the nature and development of the representation of knowledge. It comes from three points of view, which are the theory of information processing, the inability of behaviorism to provide a comprehensive account for all aspects of human behavior, and the invention of the computer.
Chapter 11 closes our discussion with several insights into the efficient market theory. There have been many attempts to discredit the random walk theory, but none of the theories hold against empirical evidence. Any pattern that is noticed by investors will disappear as investors try to exploit it and the valuation methods of growth rate are far too difficult to predict. As we said before the random walk concludes that no patterns exist in the market, pricing is accurate and all information available is already incorporated into the stock price. Therefore the market is efficient. Even if errors do occur in short-run pricing, they will correct themselves in the long run. The random walk suggest that short-term prices cannot be predicted and to buy stocks for the long run. Malkiel concludes the best way to consistently be profitable is to buy and hold a broad based market index fund. As the market rises so will the investors returns since historically the market continues to rise as a whole.
Finance is a field that had always fascinated me right from my undergraduate college days. What make me interested in this particular field of study are the art of finance and the complexity of investment market which would allow me to employ my personal skills, such as analytical and communication skills, along with my personal characteristics such as dedication and compassion for what I do. As one of the most important sector in the world, I believe it would provide me with a broad range of career options.
The efficient market hypothesis has been one of the main topics of academic finance research. The efficient market hypotheses also know as the joint hypothesis problem, asserts that financial markets lack solid hard information in making decisions. Efficient market hypothesis claims it is impossible to beat the market because stock market efficiency causes existing share prices to always incorporate and reflect all relevant information . According to efficient market hypothesis stocks always trade at their fair value on stock exchanges, making it impossible for investors to either purchase undervalued stocks or sell stocks for inflated prices. As such, it should be impossible to outperform the overall market through expert stock selection or market timing, and that the only way an investor can possibly obtain higher returns is by purchasing riskier investments . In reality once cannot always achieve returns in excess of average market return on a risk-adjusted basis. They have been numerous arguments against the efficient market hypothesis. Some researches point out the fact financial theories are subjective, in other words they are ideas that try to explain how markets work and behave.
The basic assumptions of behaviorism are that psychology's task is to study behavior, or the responses an organism makes to the stimuli in its environment; that psychological research should be empirical, based on measurement; that behavior can be controlled and predicted, and that the major component of behavior is learning.
Market Efficiency In simple Microeconomics, market efficiency is the unbiased estimate of the actual value of the investment. The stock price can be greater than or less than its true value till the time these deviations are arbitrary. Market efficiency also states that even though an investor has got any kind of precise inside information, they will be unable to beat the market. Fama (1988) defines three levels of market efficiency.
Block, S. B., & Hirt, G. A. (2005). Foundations of financial management. (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Personal Finance is a class I’ve wanted to take for a while now. My major is Finance not because I want a career in finance but more to learn about finance for my own personal situation. This class taught me so much! During this class I was able to evaluate my financial situation and set financial goals for myself. The four topics that helped me the most were emergency savings, buying a car, purchasing a home, retirement, and estate planning. After completing this class I have a better understanding of these topics and how to achieve my financial goals.
This paper will define and discuss five financial theories and how they impact business decisions made by financial managers. The theories will be the Modern Portfolio Theory, Tobin Separation Theorem, Equilibrium Theory, Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), and the Efficient Markets Hypothesis.