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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 104 No. 2 2012

Realization utility

Nicholas Barberis1; Wei Xiong2

1 Yale University · 2 Princeton University

Abstract

A number of authors have suggested that investors derive utility from realizing gains and losses on assets that they own. We present a model of this “realization utility,” analyze its predictions, and show that it can shed light on a number of puzzling facts. These include the disposition effect, the poor trading performance of individual investors, the higher volume of trade in rising markets, the effect of historical highs on the propensity to sell, the individual investor preference for volatile stocks, the low average return of volatile stocks, and the heavy trading associated with highly valued assets.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2011.10.005
Volume
104
Issue
2
Pages
251-271
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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