Finanza comportamentale: presupposti teorici e approcci in letteratura

Born in the mid-seventies, behavioural finance is a field of studies mixing the competence of cognitive psychologists and financial economists. This articles tackles the theoretical underpinnings, both psychological and financial, of the field. A brief survey of the major heuristic biases affecting the decision making process together with a review of how regret aversion and prospect theory affect preferences are provided. How and why arbitrage is limited in purpose is examined as well. Based upon these findings, major behavioural finances studies are classified into micro-behavioural finance, concentrating on the behaviour of decision makers, and macro-behavioural finance focusing on the consequences of such behaviours on the financial markets. The article concludes with a thought on the type of relationship existing between behavioural and standard finance.