Are we rational? Insights from behavioral finance for investors

Abstract

The lecture contrasts normative behavior derived from finance theory („How should investors act?”) with descriptive behavior derived from empirical and experimental research (“How do investors actually act?). Against this background, the lecture provides a number of insights from behavioral finance research aimed at targeting the questions: Why do investors act this way – and how can one help them to avoid costly investment mistakes?

Biography

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Weber has a Chair for Banking and Finance at the University of Mannheim. He is also Director of the University`s Institute of Investment Banking. His main research interests lie in the area of banking, behavioral finance, and its psychological foundations. He is the author of numerous publications in these areas and co-author of textbooks on decision analysis and banking.
Professor Weber studied mathematics and business administration and received his Ph.D. as well as his habilitation for business administration from the University of Aachen. Before joining the University of Mannheim he held Professorships at the Universities of Cologne and Kiel. He spent about 3 years as visiting scholar at UCLA, at the Wharton School, at Stanford University and at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.
Between 1997 and 2008, he served as “Sprecher” (Director) and “Stellvertretender Sprecher” (Deputy Director) for the Sonderforschungsbereich 504 of the German National Science Foundation (“Rationalitätskonzepte, Entscheidungsverhalten und ökonomische Modellierung”, Rationality, Decision Making and Economic Modelling). He was Dekan (Dean) of the Faculty for Business Administration at the University of Mannheim (4/2004 - 03/2006). 
Professor Weber serves on the editorial board of various national and international journals. He is a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, and a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He serves on the executive board of the Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft für Betriebswirtschaft e.V and on the scientific advisory council of the Deutsches Aktieninstitut.
Based on Professor Weber’s research insights with respect to investor biases and capital markets (see e.g. www.behavioral-finance.de), Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS set up the multi-asset class index fund “ARERO – Der Weltfonds” in 2008.
More about Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Weber

To register please send an email to: melanie.winkelmann(at)klu.org

To see the presentation, please open this link.

The Lecture Series

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