Beyond Greed and Fear Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing

by Shefrin, Hersh

• ISBN13: 9780195304213
• ISBN10: 0195304217
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Even the best Wall Street investors make mistakes. No matter how savvy or experienced, all financial practitioners eventually let bias, overconfidence, and emotion cloud their judgment and misguide their actions. Yet most financial decision-making models fail to factor in these fundamentals of human nature. In Beyond Greed and Fear , the most authoritative guide to what really influences the decision-making process, Hersh Shefrin uses the latest psychological research to help us understand the human behavior that guides stock selection, financial services, and corporate financial strategy. Shefrin argues that financial practitioners must acknowledge and understand behavioral finance--the application of psychology to financial behavior--in order to avoid many of the investment pitfalls caused by human error. Through colorful, often humorous real-world examples, Shefrin points out the common but costly mistakes that money managers, security analysts, financial planners, investment bankers, and corporate leaders make, so that readers gain valuable insights into their own financial decisions and those of their employees, asset managers, and advisors. According to Shefrin, the financial community ignores the psychology of investing at its own peril. Beyond Greed and Fear illuminates behavioral finance for today's investor. It will help practitioners to recognize--and avoid--bias and errors in their decisions, and to modify and improve their overall investment strategies.

Author Biography

Hersh Shefrin holds the Mario L. Belotti Chair in Finance at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Part I: What Is Behavioral Finance
1. Introduction
2. Heuristic-Driven Bias: The First Theme
3. Frame Dependence: The Second Theme
4. Inefficient Markets: The Third Theme
Part II: Prediction
5. Trying to Predict the Market
6. Sentimental Journey: The Illusion of Validity
7. Picking Stocks to Beat the Market
8. Biased Reactions to Earnings Announcements
Part III: Individual Investors
9. "Get-Evenitis": Riding Losers Too Long
10. Portfolios, Pyramids, Emotions, and Biases
11. Retirement Saving: Myopia and Self-Control
Part IV: Institutional Investors
12. Open-Ended Mutual Funds: Misframing, "Hot Hands", and Obfuscation Games
13. Closed-End Funds: What Drives Discounts?
14. Fixed Income Securities: The Full Measure of Behavioral Phenomena
15. The Money Management Industry: Framing Effects, Style "Diversification", and Regret
Part V: The Interface between Corporate Finance and Investment
16. Corporate Takeovers and the Winner's Curse
17. IPOs: Initial Underpricing, Long-term Underperformance, and "Hot-Issue" Markets
18. Optimism in Analysts' Earnings Predictions and Stock Recommendations
Part VI: Options, Futures, and Foreign Exchange
19. Options: How They're Used, How They're Priced, and How They Reflect Sentiment
20. Commodity Futures: Orange Juice and Sentiment
21. Excessive Speculation in Foreign Exchange Markets
Final Remarks
Notes
References
Credits
Index