Portfolio Choice and Trading Volume with Loss Averse Investors

43 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2000

Date Written: March 2003

Abstract

This paper presents a formal model of portfolio choice and stock trading volume with loss-averse investors. The demand function for risky assets is discontinuous and non-monotonic: as wealth rises beyond a threshold investors follow a generalized portfolio insurance strategy. This behavior is consistent with the evidence in favor of the disposition effect. In addition, loss-averse investors will not hold stocks unless the equity premium is quite high. The elasticity of the aggregate demand curve changes substantially, depending on the distribution of wealth across investors. In an equilibrium setting the model typically generates positive correlation between trading volume and stock return volatility, but suggests that this relationship should be non-linear.

Keywords: Loss Aversion, First-Order Risk Aversion, Portfolio Insurance, Portfolio Choice, Stock Market Participation, Trading Volume

JEL Classification: G11, G12

Suggested Citation

Gomes, Francisco, Portfolio Choice and Trading Volume with Loss Averse Investors (March 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=249569 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.249569

Francisco Gomes (Contact Author)

London Business School ( email )

Finance Department
Sussex Place - Regent's Park
London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/view/francisco-gomes/home

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