Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/170967 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10983
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We ran a field experiment to investigate whether nudge policies, consisting in behavioural insight messaging, help to improve performance in financial trading. Our experiment involved students enrolled in a financial trading course in an Italian University who were invited to trade on Borsa Italiana's virtual platform. Students were randomly assigned to a control group and a treatment group. Treated students received a message reminding them of the existence of behavioural biases in financial trading. We find that treated students significantly improve the performance of their portfolio. Several behaviours may explain the increase in performance. We find evidence pointing to a reduction in the home and status quo biases for risk averse nudged participants.
Subjects: 
financial trading
behavioural biases
reminders
nudges
home bias
status quo bias
risk aversion
JEL: 
D14
E21
E22
O16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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