Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/4297 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
Diskussionsbeitrag No. 397
Publisher: 
Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Hannover
Abstract: 
Existing empirical evidence is inconclusive on whether professional investors show sophisticated behavior or not, a question which is at the heart of market efficiency. This ambiguous evidence is mostly based on trading data or laboratory evidence, which each has its limitations. We complement these approaches by conducting a survey of 500 investors, including several measures of sophistication, three relevant groups of investors and essential control variables. We find that both professional investors and laymen do indeed show unsophisticated investment behavior on aggregate. Furthermore, while some professional investors - institutional investors - behave at least more sophisticated than laymen, other professionals - investment advisors - seem to do even worse.
Subjects: 
Institutional investors
investment advisors
individual investors
investment behavior
JEL: 
G1
D80
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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