Econometrica

Journal Of The Econometric Society

An International Society for the Advancement of Economic
Theory in its Relation to Statistics and Mathematics

Edited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262

Econometrica: Jul, 2014, Volume 82, Issue 4

Understanding Mechanisms Underlying Peer Effects: Evidence From a Field Experiment on Financial Decisions

https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA11991
p. 1273-1301

Leonardo Bursztyn, Florian Ederer, Bruno Ferman, Noam Yuchtman

Using a high‐stakes field experiment conducted with a financial brokerage, we implement a novel design to separately identify two channels of social influence in financial decisions, both widely studied theoretically. When someone purchases an asset, his peers may also want to purchase it, both because they learn from his choice (“social learning”) and because his possession of the asset directly affects others' utility of owning the same asset (“social utility”). We randomize whether one member of a peer pair who chose to purchase an asset has that choice implemented, thus randomizing his ability to possess the asset. Then, we randomize whether the second member of the pair: (i) receives no information about the first member, or (ii) is informed of the first member's desire to purchase the asset the result of the randomization that determined possession. This allows us to estimate the effects of learning plus possession, and learning alone, relative to a (no information) control group. We find that both social learning and social utility channels have statistically and economically significant effects on investment decisions. Evidence from a follow‐up survey reveals that social learning effects are greatest when the first (second) investor is financially sophisticated (financially unsophisticated); investors report updating their beliefs about asset quality after learning about their peer's revealed preference; and, they report motivations consistent with “keeping up with the Joneses” when learning about their peer's possession of the asset. These results can help shed light on the mechanisms underlying herding behavior in financial markets and peer effects in consumption and investment decisions.


Log In To View Full Content

Supplemental Material

Supplement to "Understanding Mechanisms Underlying Peer Effects: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Financial Decisions"

This appendix contains tables and figures not found in the manuscript.

Supplement to "Understanding Mechanisms Underlying Peer Effects: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Financial Decisions"

This zip file contains the replication files for the manuscript.

Journal News

View