Financial Attention
51 Pages Posted: 13 Oct 2013 Last revised: 30 Jul 2015
Date Written: July 29, 2015
Abstract
This paper investigates investor attention using novel panel data on daily online logins for a large sample of retirement accounts. We find support for selective attention to portfolio information. Account logins fall by 9.5% after market declines. Investors also pay less attention when the VIX volatility index is high. The level of attention and the attention/return correlation are strongly related to investor demographics (gender, age) and financial position (wealth, holdings). Using a new statistical decomposition, we also show how aggregate and individual household trading are related to investor attention.
Keywords: Investor Attention, Portfolio Trading, Behavioral Economics/Finance, Ostrich Effect
JEL Classification: G02, D03, D83
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Nachum Sicherman (Contact Author)
Columbia University ( email )
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New York, NY 10027
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IZA Institute of Labor Economics
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Germany
Duane J. Seppi
Carnegie Mellon University - David A. Tepper School of Business ( email )
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Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
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