Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP9907
Authors: John Y. Campbell; Tarun Ramadorai; Benjamin Ranish
Abstract: Using a large representative sample of Indian retail equity investors, many of them new to the stock market, we show that both years of investment experience and feedback from investment returns have significant effects on investor behavior, favored stock styles, and performance. We identify two channels of feedback: performance relative to the market, and the directly-experienced returns to behavior and styles of stock. Both of these vary across investors at a point in time because investors are imperfectly diversified and receive idiosyncratic returns. We find that experienced investors generally behave in a manner more consistent with the recommendations of finance theory, although this tendency is weakened by strong investment performance. High trading profits increase turnover, while high returns to equity styles have a short-term negative and a longer-term positive effect on investors' style demands, possibly reflecting the offsetting effects of disposition bias and style chasing.We document high returns on a portfolio of stocks held by experienced investors, and on individual Indian stocks with an experienced and low-turnover investor base.
Keywords: Disposition Effect; Diversification; Feedback; India; Investing; Learning; Style Investing; Turnover
JEL Codes: D83; G12; G14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| years of investment experience (G11) | investor behavior (G41) |
| feedback from investment returns (G11) | investor behavior (G41) |
| experienced returns (I26) | investor behavior (G41) |
| high trading profits (F19) | turnover (J63) |
| experienced investors (G11) | higher returns (G12) |
| strong performance (P17) | aggressive behaviors (C92) |
| account age (M41) | aggressive behaviors (C92) |
| overall account performance (L25) | aggressive behavior (C92) |
| high returns (G17) | specific stocks accumulation (G31) |
| performance feedback (L25) | investment decisions (G11) |