Lena Jaroszek

Think Twice or Be Wise in Consumer Credit Choices

Based on a rich panel of household data, we investigate the determinants of the use of consumer credit in Germany. We find that the usage frequency of an easily accessible, but relatively expensive source of consumer credit decreases with financial literacy but is unrelated to household income. This result is robust to household structure, age, formal education, and occupational status. Based on childhood-related information on spending behavior, we control for the influence of self- control on credit decisions. We document that neither self-control, nor low numeracy drive out financial literacy when explaining the frequency of (expensive) credit usage. Hence, financial education plays an important role to improve consumer choices.

Wall Street Crosses Memory Lane: How Witnessed Returns Affect Professionals' Expected Returns

Witnessing stock-market history in the making creates a vivid story, but does not provide valuable information. However, finance professionals extrapolate from personally witnessed returns, which we show by using a unique dataset about the timing of their career start in the finance industry. This result is robust when controlling for all publicly available information and other time-fixed effects as well as interpersonal differences. Additionally, we find that returns witnessed early in the career are more formative than those witnessed recently. Finally, among the potential channels through which witnessed returns might affect expected returns, a judgmental bias appears most plausible.