Print Price: $118.95

Format:
Hardback
480 pp.
155 mm x 236 mm

ISBN-13:
9780197699850

Publication date:
May 2024

Imprint: OUP US

Household Finance

An Introduction to Individual Financial Behavior

Dr. Richard Deaves, PhD

Household Finance: An Introduction to Individual Financial Behavior speaks to both how people should and how people actually do make financial decisions, and how these financial decisions contribute to and detract from their well-being. Households must plan over long but finite horizons, have important nontraded assets, notably human capital; hold illiquid assets, particularly housing; face constraints on the ability to borrow; and are subject to complex taxation. Some households manage these goals and challenges independently, while still others delegate portfolio management. Household financial problems have many special features that differ from firms, investors, or the functioning of markets.

Author Richard Deaves covers the broad range of choices and goals in household finance both in the normative sense (i.e., what is best) based on conventional financial theory and in the positive sense (i.e., what is actually done) based on observing actual behavior. While modern finance builds models of behavior and markets based on strong assumptions such as the rationality of decision-makers, behavioral finance is based on the view that sometimes people behave in a less-than-fully-rational fashion when making financial decisions. Deaves addresses important issues and puzzles in the field such as financial illiteracy, whether education and advice can improve outcomes, intertemporal consumption optimization, consumption smoothing, optimal dynamic risk-taking, the stock market participation puzzle, the credit card debt puzzle, anomalous insurance decisions, mortgage choices, skewness preference, investments driven by availability and attention, local and home bias, the disposition effect, optimal pension design and improving outcomes through nudging in a thoroughly international approach.

Readership : intermediate students in finance

Reviews

• "This book unravels the mysteries of household finance, shedding light on both the logical and the surprising behaviors that guide our choices. Whether you're a finance student, a seasoned professor, or just someone keen to master your money, this book is your friendly guide through the intricate maze of today's financial world. It's not just a book, t's an adventure into the psychology of decision-making in our complex financial era. A must-read that's as engaging as it is enlightening!"
  --Quang Nguyen, Middlesex University
• "Richard Deaves has provided a fantastic resource for both students of finance and individuals who wish to improve their financial decision-making. By starting with the building blocks, readers will better understand the behavior of others, as well as their own behavior. Today we are tasked with growing our own wealth and this book will help people accumulate and better allocate their savings."
  --Lucy F. Ackert, Kennesaw State University
• "Richard Deaves provides an entertaining and thorough introduction to individual financial decisionmaking. It a hybrid between a business guide, a textbook and an academic review. I highly recommend it to any readers interested in conceptual and practical aspects of household finance and behavioral finance."
  --Brian Kluger, University of Cincinnati