Retail investors and financial advisors: New evidence on trust and advice taking heuristics

This paper investigates factors that influence trust and advice taking among retail investors when consulting with financial advisors and making real-world portfolio decisions. The data reveal that non-expert retail investors trust their advisors a lot. Trust formation appears to be well described by a simple heuristic that relies substantially on the advisor's communication style when deciding how much to trust and delegate investment decisions. Portfolio decisions appear to depend more on investors' perceptions about the investor–advisor relationship than on the risk and return characteristics of investments comprising the portfolio choice set. This evidence supports Pentland's (2008) “honest signals” as a more powerful mechanism underlying investor trust than standard metrics based on past performance. Trust and advice-taking heuristics can be interpreted as well adapted to the environment of the non-profit bank cooperatives in which they are observed, implying that trusting based on simple honest signals, although vulnerable to exploitation, can be interpreted as ecologically rational. Features of the investor's environment typical of non-profit cooperative banks imply that the heuristics investors use can perform rather well without requiring investment experience or financial sophistication, which most investors in our sample are well aware they lack.     

Reliability and validity of a short credit card attitude scale in British and American subjects

Short scales to measure affective, cognitive and behavioural attitudes toward credit cards developed from a longer scale were administered to respondents in Great Britain and the United States and found to be highly reliable and valid.     

Credit cards in a Chinese cultural context—The young, affluent Chinese as early adopters

This research examines the attitudes of early adopters towards holding and using credit cards, especially how the ‘young and affluent Chinese’ view credit cards, in the Chinese cultural context. The findings indicate that frequent users of credit cards are more inclined to agree that: they display traits of new product adopters; credit cards offer them greater convenience; and others regard them as being more au-fait with technology, and more financially aware. The research also reveals a fear of loss of financial control when using credit cards that may impede its rate of adoption in China.     

Consumer credit,household financial management,and sustainable consumption

Over the past decade, sustainable consumption has emerged as an issue of growing international prominence. Policy initiatives to facilitate more environmentally and socially preferable household provisioning have typically emphasized materials and energy efficiency. While this approach holds the prospect for some notable short‐term gains, experience suggests that longer‐term improvements are likely to fall short of expectations and trigger unanticipated rebound effects. Effective policy programs need to acknowledge the social and financial dimensions of consumer decision making and become more attentive to the role of households as catalysts of production. From this perspective, consumer payment systems take on special significance. In particular, the prevalence of credit cards and the accumulation of consumer debt in the USA and other advanced countries have been important drivers of economic growth in recent years. This paper highlights the linkages between consumer credit and sustainable consumption and discusses the structural changes in lending practices that account for the popularity of this payment system. While unsatisfactory conceptual models and inadequate data make it difficult to advance any definitive assessment of this relationship, it is possible to outline the basic elements of a research agenda in this area.     

Challenging Confucius: Western banks in the Chinese credit card market

China has commanded a great deal of interest from virtually all U.S. business sectors. The Chinese credit card market is now particularly intriguing for Western banks. This article examines the strategic minefield that Western banks must navigate as they attempt to compete in the Chinese credit card industry. As an example, Bank of America (BOA)—fresh from purchasing a 9% interest in China Construction Bank (CCB) a few years ago—is now contemplating a joint venture with CCB. The new company will be tasked with leading the Chinese credit card market. Specifically, two questions are addressed: (1) whether the Chinese banking market is a sound option at this time; and (2) whether China affords an optimal environment for credit. The analysis yields several strategic lessons, and encourages caution on the part of Western bank executives as they enter the Chinese market. In particular, BOA officials must appreciate the timing of their joint venture's evolution. Additionally, BOA officials should strongly consider financial ventures other than credit, as Chinese culture should prove particularly resistant to serving as a profitable customer base in the short- and middle-timeframes.     

建立黑龙江省科技与金融服务体系的对策研究

黑龙江省的科技与金融服务体系存在着直接融资市场体系不健全、信用担保体系不完善、高科技企业获得资金支持不足等问题。应借鉴国外支持和鼓励科技企业的措施,建立黑龙江省的风险投资体系和科技型企业直接融资信息平台及资信评估体系,以推动全省科技与金融服务的结合。     

化解资本困境 强化风险管理

资本作为对抗金融风险的缓冲器,对于商业银行是一个十分关键的要素。巴塞尔新资本协议使我国商业银行资本面临的困境加剧,走出这一困境要重视资本管理和提高资本充足水平。     

How Does Financial Literacy Impact Attitude Toward Student Loan Providers?

ABSTRACT

We examined whether financial literacy changes college students' assessments of their student-loan providers. As predictors in our backward regression, we included (a) financial literacy, (b) perceived importance of loan, (c) satisfaction with college, (d) financial optimism, (e) experience using credit cards, and (f) perceived importance of decisions about credit cards. We also included two-way interactions between financial literacy and the other variables. Our regression explained about 24% of the variance in the dependent variable. Our results indicated that financial literacy was a significant predictor of attitude toward the student loan provider—but only in the interaction terms.     

Optimal tax and debt policy with endogenously imperfect creditworthiness

This paper studies the patterns of optimal tax rates and borrowing in a developing country characterized by a costly tax collection. Its access to the international credit market is determined by the efficiency of the tax system, the relative bargaining power of creditors, and the outstanding debt. Country risk modifies considerably the pattern of taxes and borrowing in recessions. The tax rate exhibits strong counter-cyclical patterns in economies operating close to the credit ceiling, whereas the tax rate exhibits very few cyclical patterns in economies operating on the elastic portion of the supply of credit, where country risk factors are absent.     

Teaching financial literacy: a survey of community‐based educators

A nationwide online survey of financial educators in adult community‐based financial education programmes in the US was conducted to examine teaching beliefs, related curriculum and teaching strategies used to reach underserved populations. A transformative learning theoretical framework was used to discover how financial education engages learners in relation to their own lives. Survey findings indicate in community‐based settings financial educators are largely White, female, college educated and with multiple years of experience; believe their role is to provide expert information to help learners make informed financial choices; and often adapt published materials to reflect the life circumstances of learners. Learners are more racially diverse than educators, most having attended high school, who identify their own financial need to attend the programmes. Programmes do not often target specific groups, are frequently free and can take place in a variety of face‐to‐face settings. Implications indicate best practices for financial educators require inclusive, culturally responsive pedagogies.     

Assessing the usefulness of store card data in direct sales of financial services

The UK financial services market has expanded in recent years through the addition of several non-traditional players. We evaluate the extent to which this increased supply of services is best channelled through existing retail locations or whether products are better promoted and managed via direct marketing methods. Using a UK grocer/retailer's lifestyle customer database for an urban store and an out-of-centre location, we analyse a regional sample of customers who have received financial services mail-shots. The use of GIS and logistic regression enables the determination of the extent to which mail respondents have distinctive characteristics in terms of wealth, financial service ownership and proximity to store. Finally, we discuss the implications of our empirical study for in-store financial services support and draw some general conclusions based on our assessment of the usefulness of lifestyles data in such applications.     

Credit constraints, equity market liberalizations and international trade

This paper provides evidence that credit constraints are an important determinant of international trade flows. I exploit shocks to the availability of external finance and examine the impact of equity market liberalizations on the export behavior of 91 countries in the 1980-1997 period. I show that liberalizations increase exports disproportionately more in financially vulnerable sectors that require more outside finance or employ fewer collateralizable assets. This result is not driven by cross-country differences in factor endowments and is independent of simultaneous trade policy reforms. Moreover, it obtains with equal strength in the full panel of countries as well as in both panel and event-study analyses of countries which removed capital controls during the sample period. Finally, the effects of liberalizations are more pronounced in economies with initially less active stock markets, indicating that foreign equity flows may substitute for an underdeveloped domestic financial system. Similarly, opening equity markets has a greater impact in the presence of higher trade costs caused by restrictive trade policies.     

Working capital management,corporate performance,and financial constraints

This paper examines the linkage between working capital management and corporate performance for a sample of non-financial UK companies. In contrast to previous studies, the findings provide strong support for an inverted U-shaped relation between investment in working capital and firm performance, which implies the existence of an optimal level of investment in working capital that balances costs and benefits and maximizes a firm's value. The results suggest that managers should avoid negative effects on firm performance because of lost sales and lost discounts for early payments or additional financing expenses. The paper also analyzes whether the optimal working capital level is sensitive to alternative measures of financial constraints. The findings show that this optimum is lower for firms more likely to be financially constrained.     

职业声望、信贷约束与金融市场参与

本文使用中国家庭微观调查数据,研究职业声望通过缓解信贷约束的机制对居民家庭资产选择行为的影响。研究发现职业声望对金融市场参与的影响存在倒“U”形特征,并且这一结论不能被家庭经济特征、人口学特征和主观认知等因素存在差异所解释。进一步研究发现,在不存在融资约束的条件下,高声望职业更加倾向于参与商品房市场而非金融市场。本文认为高职业声望降低了家庭面临的信贷约束,增加了其对流动性小但收益率高的商品房资产的偏好。本文的研究从一个侧面反映出我国资本市场对于居民家庭的吸引力还有待提升。     

信用效应认识的深化与信用秩序的恢复和增强

市场经济从本质上讲是信用经济.在市场经济条件下,信用是最基本的社会经济关系,是整个社会经济得以维系和发展的基础.随着中国经济改革的逐步深入,特别是在加入WTO后,信用的作用逐步显现出来.但是,人们对信用效应的认识还有待深化,尤其是对信用关系紊乱可能带来的负面作用认识得不多,而对信用的积极作用往往习惯于借鉴美欧现成的信用模式.本文从深化对信用效应的认识入手,分析了信用秩序混乱的形成原因,并在简要评价我国信用基本状况的基础上,提出了恢复和增强我国信用秩序的建议.     

Absorptive capacity, innovation, and financial performance

This study here examines the role of absorptive capacity as both a mechanism to identify and translate external knowledge inflows into tangible benefits, as well as a means of achieving superior innovation and time-lagged financial performance. Using path analysis in a sample of 461 Greek enterprises participating in the third Community Innovation Survey, this study demonstrates that external knowledge inflows are directly related to absorptive capacity and indirectly related to innovation. Absorptive capacity contributes, directly and indirectly, to innovation and financial performance but in different time spans. This study, therefore, contributes to the understanding of absorptive capacity's antecedents and outcomes by providing empirical evidence of longitudinal form that offers important research and practical implications.     

Ethical Issues in Credit Card Solicitation of College Students – The Responsibilities of Credit Card Issuers,Higher Education,and Students

Credit card companies aggressively solicit college students, without regardfor the consequences of high credit car debt for these customers. Theethical conflict of the sale of easy credit to college students too oftenresults in hazardous outcomes akin to the solicitation of youth by cigarettecompanies. This paper will investigate the dangers that credit card use presents to theyoung customer, the unethical manner in which the companies that issue these cards promote their products to this audience, and the role of institutions of higher education. A majority of students are not only using credit unwisely (average balances of over $1000 regardless of who reports the data) but are payingexorbitant interest (18%–22%). The credit card companies call this``responsible' use. They are collecting enough interest and fees to morethan cover losses resulting from bankruptcy. They use a variety ofmarketing techniques to lure college students – glitzy `MTV' type shows,free prizes and gifts, special interest rate offers, and now they can pretendthrough `educational services' to explain to college students why credit cards are important.This paper investigates the ethical considerations of credit card solicitationof college students as a result of research into factors that influence thenumber of credit cards held by these students. Current solicitation policiesof colleges and universities are also presented.     

Engagement behavior and financial well-being: The effect of message framing in online pension communication

People spend very little time planning for retirement, which could have negative effects on their financial well-being. To address this troubling lack of engagement, the authors posit that the use of goal framing, a marketing practice that involves making strategic adjustments to wording of marketing communications, in technology-facilitated communication (e.g., email) is effective for stimulating consumers’ behavioral engagement with pension information that is relevant for their long-term financial well-being. Field, online, and laboratory studies consistently show that a prevention-oriented assurance frame in technology-facilitated communication is twice as effective as a promotion-oriented investment frame for increasing participants’ engagement behavior. The findings have important implications for marketers and policy makers who seek to increase consumers’ retirement engagement behavior and financial well-being.     

论消费信贷与国内需求

本文通过对消费信贷的理论与实证分析,提出了关于消费信贷与国内需求内在关系的两个定理,即长期消费需求等效定理与短期国内需求不等效定理.根据这两个定理,作者认为,消费信贷既不能拉动长期消费需求,也不能拉动短期国内需求;因此,消费信贷不应成为刺激消费的首选之策,而不断提高城乡居民的收入,才是扩大国内需求的根本举措.