An introduction to behavioral finance

Abstract

A subject often debated in Finance is the validity of assumptions regarding traditional theories, especially in relation to the rationality of economic agents. Studies endeavoring to improve theoretical models have incorporated behavioral aspects previously disregarded thereby creating the new and promising field of behavioral finance. The remarkable growth of this unorthodox approach has been spurred by attempts to explain phenomena in the financial markets which are incompatible with traditional model forecasts. A brief introduction to the concepts of behavioral finance was presented with comments on pioneer applications that incorporated two frequent examples of cognitive biases, namely optimism and excessive confidence, for the purpose of building a new theoretical paradigm.