<p>The Swedish population has the world’s largest percentage of shareholders either by direct or indirect owning. Due to the increasing interest of equity capital markets, private as well as institutional investors rely on forecasts from financial analysts. The reason for this is due to the lack of expertise among investors in this area. </p><p>Due to the fact that analysts influence the Swedish stock market immensely, it’s of great interest to explore whether an analyst can be seen as a rational participant. At the same time, we would like to see what impact psychological factors have on the analysts in their work and which these psychological factors are.</p><p>To battle these questions, we have chosen to take a qualitative approach in our research, basing it on interviews. In our opinion, interviewing a person gives a more balanced picture as the respondents have the possibility to have a dialog/discussion with the interviewer. The selection of interviewees was not random, instead we chose to interview nine different financial analysts working for big popular firms in Stockholm and Copenhagen. </p><p>Our research presents the psychological factors which affect financial analysts. We are convinced to have found strong enough indications to draw general conclusions for financial analysts, active on the Nordic stock market. </p><p>The study has shown a given relation between experience and psychological effects. The awareness of the psychological impact on the stock market exists among all financial analysts. But we have found that it’s more likely for an inexperienced financial analyst to be affected by these. The factors that have the largest effect on analysts are mostly trends, herding, overreaction and noise. </p><p>Finally our research shows a psychological position of dependence for the companies the analyst value. These are the providers of information for analysts, in practice a sale recommendation can lead to less information being shared with him or her. Further on, it’s generally seen to be more commercial correct publishing a buy recommendation as these generate more incomes and business connection for the analyst’s employer. The conclusions points out that an analyst often adopts over-optimism when analysing companies.</p>

The Swedish population has the world’s largest percentage of shareholders either by direct or indirect owning. Due to the increasing interest of equity capital markets, private as well as institutional investors rely on forecasts from financial analysts. The reason for this is due to the lack of expertise among investors in this area. Due to the fact that analysts influence the Swedish stock market immensely, it’s of great interest to explore whether an analyst can be seen as a rational participant. At the same time, we would like to see what impact psychological factors have on the analysts in their work and which these psychological factors are. To battle these questions, we have chosen to take a qualitative approach in our research, basing it on interviews. In our opinion, interviewing a person gives a more balanced picture as the respondents have the possibility to have a dialog/discussion with the interviewer. The selection of interviewees was not random, instead we chose to interview nine different financial analysts working for big popular firms in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Our research presents the psychological factors which affect financial analysts. We are convinced to have found strong enough indications to draw general conclusions for financial analysts, active on the Nordic stock market. The study has shown a given relation between experience and psychological effects. The awareness of the psychological impact on the stock market exists among all financial analysts. But we have found that it’s more likely for an inexperienced financial analyst to be affected by these. The factors that have the largest effect on analysts are mostly trends, herding, overreaction and noise. Finally our research shows a psychological position of dependence for the companies the analyst value. These are the providers of information for analysts, in practice a sale recommendation can lead to less information being shared with him or her. Further on, it’s generally seen to be more commercial correct publishing a buy recommendation as these generate more incomes and business connection for the analyst’s employer. The conclusions points out that an analyst often adopts over-optimism when analysing companies.

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Prior research on corporations finds that there exists a large unexplained firm-specific heterogeneity in corporate behaviors stemming from the effects of managers. This research identifies managerial personalities and tests their effects on corporate behaviors both experimentally and empirically. First, the effects of managerial personalities on corporate financing decisions are tested using a laboratory experiment with managers in South Korea. The laboratory experimental market is à la Modigliani and Miller but with two frictions, bankruptcy costs and corporate taxation. Leverage choices of managers with particular personality traits are compared against the optimal capital structure computed from the static trade-off theory. The results show that extravert managers choose higher leverage ratios, with the effect being financially meaningful although not statistically significant. Secondly, I identify extravert CEOs and empirically measure its effects on corporate financing choices using Chief Executive Officers’ avocation data and corporate financial data of public, nonfinancial US companies between 1992 and 2011. The results of mean comparisons by group, fixed effects regressions, difference-in-difference regressions, and changes of leverages around CEO turnovers show that extravert CEOs tend to issue risky debt more when accessing external finance and maintain higher leverage ratios than their peers. Thirdly, I test the effects of managerial extraversion on executive compensation. I first offer an empirical compensation model of managerial bargaining power, and then empirically tests the prediction by identifying a personality trait relevant to bargaining power using a novel set of managerial hobbies data. The results provide an evidence that CEO bargaining power has an increasing effect on CEO compensation.

效率市場一直是傳統財務理論的核心，然而現實的投資環境中卻一再發現傳統財務學無法解釋的不效率現象，例如小公司效應（small firm effect）、本益比效應（price/earnings effect）、面值市值比效應（book value/market value effect）、元月效應（January effect）、週末效應（weekend effect）等。行為財務學認為投資人的行為偏誤是造成市場不效率的原因之一，而這些偏誤是會一再重複而有機可循的，因此發展出動能策略（momentum strategy）、反向策略（contrarian strategy）等，藉由研究投資人的行為對股票市場進行預測並投資。 台灣市場一直是散戶居多，而且又是屬於淺碟型的小市場，理論上投資人的行為偏誤將會更加顯著，也意味著行為財務學將有更多的發展空間，雖然行為財務學的理論已經被廣泛的實證研究，但是因為投資人的行為往往會因為不同地域、不同情境、不同時空等因素而有所差別，鑒於目前台灣市場尚未有相關的投資方式，因此希望藉由本研究促進國內產學界更深入探討行為財務學在投資方面的應用，進而促使台灣投資市場的更加效率。 / Efficient market has been the core of traditional financial theory. However, in real world, unexplainable phenomenon of inefficiency has been discovered, e.g., small firm effect, price/earnings effect, book value/market value effect, January effect, weekend effect, etc. According to behavioral finance, investors’ behavior biases are one of the main causes, and these biases will repeat themselves. Therefore, momentum strategy and contrarian strategy are performed in investment to try to forecast the market. Taiwan stock market is small and has been full of undisciplined individual investors. Theoretically, investors’ behavior biases are more easily to find, which means behavioral finance should apply better in Taiwan. Although the theory of behavioral finance has been widely testified, the outcomes are always different from areas, scenarios, times etc. Considered that, behavioral finance has not been applied in Taiwan stock market. This study focuses on application of behavioral finance in Taiwan. Hope that through this study to promote domestic industry and academy to deeply explore the application of behavioral finance in investment, thereby promoting more efficiency of the investment market in Taiwan.

<p>It is easy to see that oil has a big part in our economy, by looking at the repeated news from the media and at the stock market, where they follow the oil price very closely. Behavioral finance is about investors making small or big mistakes in the stock market. Behavioral finance describes the importance of understanding your own faults, as well as others investor’s faults. Behavioral finance emphases the importance of not assuming that the financial market is a flawless environment, but to understand the psychology behind investment decisions. The essays purpose is to explain how the oil price effect investment decisions in the stock markets in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I have chosen to use regression analysis to statistically see how the oil price is affecting the stock price for 11 stocks in the three different countries. The result shows that the oil price affects all the oil company’s stock prices and three other stock prices. The result also shows that the oil price is affecting the number of bought stocks for all the company’s in the essay. The conclusion is that the oil price has a positive effect on the trade in the stock market. If the oil price increases, then the number of bought stocks increases too. It is interesting to see that the numbers of bought stocks do not only increase for the oil companies, but also for the companies whose stock price is not affected by the oil price. To explain this behavior I have chosen to use the Behavioral finance theory.</p>

It is easy to see that oil has a big part in our economy, by looking at the repeated news from the media and at the stock market, where they follow the oil price very closely. Behavioral finance is about investors making small or big mistakes in the stock market. Behavioral finance describes the importance of understanding your own faults, as well as others investor’s faults. Behavioral finance emphases the importance of not assuming that the financial market is a flawless environment, but to understand the psychology behind investment decisions. The essays purpose is to explain how the oil price effect investment decisions in the stock markets in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I have chosen to use regression analysis to statistically see how the oil price is affecting the stock price for 11 stocks in the three different countries. The result shows that the oil price affects all the oil company’s stock prices and three other stock prices. The result also shows that the oil price is affecting the number of bought stocks for all the company’s in the essay. The conclusion is that the oil price has a positive effect on the trade in the stock market. If the oil price increases, then the number of bought stocks increases too. It is interesting to see that the numbers of bought stocks do not only increase for the oil companies, but also for the companies whose stock price is not affected by the oil price. To explain this behavior I have chosen to use the Behavioral finance theory.

Problem: Det har funnits många diskussioner kring traditionella finansiella teorier vad gäller den effektiva marknaden och investerares rationalitet. Den effektiva marknadshypotesen talar för att marknaden är effektiv och att aktiepriserna återspeglar all tillgänglig information, vilket resulterar i att det inte är möjligt att göra bra investeringar. Behavioral finance anser däremot att marknaden påverkas av beteenderelaterade aspekter och därför inte är effektiv. Vad är det egentligen som ligger till grund för aktieägares investeringsbeslut? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att, ur ett aktiemarknadsperspektiv, undersöka de psykologiska faktorerna bakom investeringsbeslut. Vidare ämnar studien undersöka vad för typ av information som påverkar aktieägare vid köp- och säljbeslut. Metod: I vår studie valde vi att använda oss av en metodtriangulering vilket innebär att både en kvantitativ och kvalitativ ansats har tillämpats i studien. Undersökningarna som genomförts har varit i form av en enkät samt intervjuer. Resultat: Slutsatsen som kunde dras utifrån undersökningarna var att aktieägare, till en viss del, påverkas av olika psykologiska faktorer inför sina investeringsbeslut.

行為財務學理論認為人的思維是有限的，在判斷與決策的過程中，會受到諸多心理因素所干擾，產生各種系統化的錯誤。行為財務基金即是利用人們有限心理下所產生的判斷偏見及行為弱點，在市場中創造出投資的機會，透過有紀律的操作方式，從非理性投資人行為所導致的市場異常現象中獲利。 本研究以J.P. Morgan在美國發行、主要投資於美國證券市場的五檔Intrepid行為財務基金為績效表現之實證研究對象，結果發現Intrepid系列基金自成立以來，績效走勢與大盤指數基金及同類型基金指數呈同向變動，其報酬與各類型基金指數之報酬相符，證實行為財務基金之操作策略是可行的。由於目前國內尚未出現以行為財務學理論為操作策略之共同基金，而國內證券市場又是以最容易發生心理偏誤的散戶投資人為主，因此，本研究認為行為財務基金在國內之發展是有其可行性的，發展行為財務基金對於國內投資人及投信業者而言，不僅是一種新的投資思維，也是另一種投資策略的選項。

Orientador: Mário Augusto Bertella / Banca: Gilberto Tadeu Lima / Banca: Elton Eustaquio Casagrande / Resumo: As Finanças Comportamentais, com base em estudos empíricos, procuram demonstrar que os investidores nem sempre se mantêm racionais ao tomarem decisões que envolvem riscos, conforme argumentava a Teoria Neoclássica de Finanças. Este trabalho tem como objetivo contextualizar o recente campo de estudo e replicar a investigação empírica do artigo seminal de Kahneman e Tversky (1979) que aborda a Teoria do Prospecto e que constitui a base de Finanças Comportamentais. Simultaneamente, serão comparados os resultados da pesquisa com os de Kahneman e Tversky (1979) com os obtidos nesse estudo. Os resultados encontrados nesta população específica mostram similaridade, e que mesmo com populações e períodos diferentes, os indivíduos tendem a se comportar de maneira, na maioria das vezes, contraria ao que argumentava a Teoria Neoclássica de Finanças / Abstract: Basing on empirical studies, Behavioral Finance seek to demonstrate that investors not always have a rational posture when it comes to making decisions that might involve some sort of risk, according to Neoclassical Finance Theory. This paper aims to contextualize recent studies and respond to the empirical investigation on Kahneman and Tversky's (1979) seminal article, which approaches The Prospect Theory and constitutes the basis for Behavioral Finance. The results of the investigation will simultaneously be compared to those of Kahneman and Tversky (1979). The results, which have been specifically found in this population, show that the results of the samples are similar, and even in different populations and different periods, individuals tend to behave, more often than not, just as opposed to the arguments of the Neoclassical Finance Theory / Mestre