Experiments on intuitive decision making and on trader inflow in asset markets

Via the methodological approach of economic experiments, this thesis studies aspects of human behavior with respect to intuitive decision making and trading on financial markets. The first chapter compares subjects' attitude towards risk when decision time available varies. According to the well-established framework of dual-process theory limiting decision time fosters intuitive decision making whereas otherwise reflective cognitive processes dominate. Analyzing data gathered in a large-scale experiment it can be shown that intuitive decision making leads to more prospect-theory-like behavior, i.e. a higher degree of risk aversion (seeking) in the gain (loss) domain.The second chapter of the thesis studies how intuition versus reflection affects the propensity to cooperate with others. For this purpose a large-scale experiment involving around 2,500 subjects in the US, Sweden and Austria has been conducted. In contrast to the findings outlined in a study by Rand et al. (2012) no cooperation-enhancing effect of intuitive decision making versus reflection can be reported.The third part of the thesis analyzes the effect of trader inflow on mispricing in an experimental asset market. Using a constant fundamental value asset and a heterogeneous information structure with a gradual inflow of new traders it can be shown that only the joint inflow of traders and cash triggers bubbles ('inflow-effect') and bubbles can be ended by either providing a subset of traders with complete information or by imposing liquidity constraints on some traders. A detailed analysis of traders' beliefs reveals that despite fundamentals staying constant, beliefs co-move with upwardly trending prices and a speculative motive can be found among the optimists in treatments where significant overpricing is observed.von Caroline BonnAbweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersInnsbruck, Univ., Diss., 2014OeBB(VLID)14537