Individuals’ financial risk-taking and peer influence

• Individual investor’s risky asset share, as well as stock market participants’ choice of total- and systematic stock portfolio risk, are found to be affected by financial risk-taking among peers. Furthermore, the results indicate that the influence of peers is stronger for less wealthy, for those with relatively higher disposable incomes, and for male investors, respectively. The results, obtained using an instrumental variable approach based on analysis of detailed individual level data, are robust towards a number of competing explanations and stress that interaction with peers’ is an important channel through which individuals’ overall financial risk-taking is affected.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Individual investors

Social interaction

Portfolio choice

Stock market

företagsekonomi

Business Studies

Economics

nationalekonomi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)