We explore the extent to which aspirations – such as those forged in the course of social interactions – explain ‘puzzling’ behavioral patterns in investment decisions. We motivate an aspirational utility, reminiscent of Friedman and Savage (1948), where social considerations (e.g., status concerns) provide an economic foundation for aspirations. We show this utility can explain a range of observed investor behaviors, such as the demand for both right- and left-skewed assets; aspects of the disposition effect; and patterns in stock-market participation consistent with empirical observations. We corroborate our theoretical findings with two novel laboratory experimental studies, where we observed participants’ preference for skewness in risky lotteries shift as lab-induced aspirations shifted.

中文翻译：

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有抱负的效用和投资行为


我们探讨了抱负（例如在社交互动过程中形成的抱负）在多大程度上解释了投资决策中“令人费解”的行为模式。我们激发了一种有抱负的效用，让人想起 Friedman 和 Savage （1948），其中社会考虑（例如，地位问题）为抱负提供了经济基础。我们表明，这种效用可以解释一系列观察到的投资者行为，例如对右偏和左偏资产的需求;处置效果的各个方面;以及与实证观察一致的股票市场参与模式。我们用两项新的实验室实验研究证实了我们的理论发现，在这些研究中，我们观察到参与者对风险彩票偏度的偏好随着实验室诱导的愿望的变化而变化。