Abstract
A number of authors have suggested that investors derive utility from realizing gains and losses on assets that they own. We present a model of this "realization utility," analyze its predictions, and show that it can shed light on a number of puzzling facts. These include the disposition effect, the poor trading performance of individual investors, the higher volume of trade in rising markets, the effect of historical highs on the propensity to sell, the individual investor preference for volatile stocks, the low average return of volatile stocks, and the heavy trading associated with highly valued assets.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 251-271 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Journal of Financial Economics |
Volume | 104 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2012 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Accounting
- Finance
- Economics and Econometrics
- Strategy and Management
Keywords
- Behavioral finance
- D03
- Disposition effect
- G11
- G12
- Individual investors
- Trading