Te Bao

Experiments on expectations in macroeconomics and finance

Expectations play a crucial role in nance, macroeconomics, monetary economics and fiscal policy. In the last decade a rapidly increasing number of laboratory experiments have been performed to study individual expectation formation, the interactions of individual forecasting rules and the aggregate macro behavior they co-create. The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive literature survey on laboratory experiments on expectations in macroeconomics and finance. In particular, we discuss the extent to which expectations are rational or may be described by simple forecasting heuristics, at the individual as well as the aggregate level.

Bubble Formation and (In)Efficient Markets in Learning-to-Forecast and -Optimise Experiments

This experiment compares the price dynamics and bubble formation in an asset market with a price adjustment rule in three treatments where subjects (1) submit a price forecast only, (2) choose quantity to buy/sell and (3) perform both tasks. We find deviation of the market price from the fundamental price in all treatments, but to a larger degree in treatments (2) and (3). Mispricing is therefore a robust finding in markets with positive expectation feedback. Some very large, recurring bubbles arise, where the price is 3 times larger than the fundamental value, which were not seen in former experiments.

Microfoundations for switching behavior in heterogeneous agent models: An experiment

We run a laboratory experiment to study how human subjects switch between several profitable alternatives, framed as mutual funds, in order to provide a microfoundation for so-called heterogeneous agent models. The participants in our experiment have to choose repeatedly between two, three or four experimental funds. The time series of fund returns are exogenously generated prior to the experiment and participants are paid for each period according to the return of the fund they choose. For most cases participants’ decisions can be successfully described by a discrete choice switching model, often applied in heterogeneous agent models, provided that a predisposition toward one of the funds is included. The estimated intensity of choice parameter of the discrete choice model depends on the structure of the fund returns. In particular, it increases with correlation between past and future returns. This suggests human subjects do not myopically chase past returns, but are more likely to do so when past returns are more predictive of future returns, a feature that is absent in the standard heterogeneous agent models.

Fee structure, return chasing and mutual fund choice: an experiment

We present an experiment that investigates the effect of the fee structure and past returns on mutual fund choice. We find that subjects pay too little attention to the (periodic and small) operation expenses fee, but that the more salient front-end load is used as a commitment device and leads to lock-in into one of the funds. In addition we find that, even when subjects know that future returns are independent of past returns, these past returns are an important determinant of subjects’ investment choices.

Experiments in Macroeconomics

Expectations play a crucial role in nance, macroeconomics, monetary economics and fiscal policy. In the last decade a rapidly increasing number of laboratory experiments have been performed to study individual expectation formation, the interactions of individual forecasting rules and the aggregate macro behavior they co-create. The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive literature survey on laboratory experiments on expectations in macroeconomics and finance. In particular, we discuss the extent to which expectations are rational or may be described by simple forecasting heuristics, at the individual as well as the aggregate level.

Research in Experimental Economics

Expectations play a crucial role in nance, macroeconomics, monetary economics and fiscal policy. In the last decade a rapidly increasing number of laboratory experiments have been performed to study individual expectation formation, the interactions of individual forecasting rules and the aggregate macro behavior they co-create. The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive literature survey on laboratory experiments on expectations in macroeconomics and finance. In particular, we discuss the extent to which expectations are rational or may be described by simple forecasting heuristics, at the individual as well as the aggregate level.