Title: Equity home bias: investors' sentiments and views

Authors: Imtithel Sendi, Chaker Aloui, Makram Bellalah

Addresses: Faculty of Management and Economic Science of Tunis, Rue Hassan Ibn Thabet Doualy Gafsa 2143, Tunisia. ' Faculty of Management and Economic Science of Tunis, International Finance Group Tunisia, CAMPUS Universitaire Boulevard du 7 Novembre Tunis, Cedex, B.P. 248, CP. 2092, El Manar University, Tunisia. ' Universite de Picardie - Jules Verne, CRIISEA, Pole Universitaire Cathedrale, 10, Placette Lafleur BP 2716, 80 027 - AMIENS CEDEX 1, France

Abstract: Modern portfolio theory suggests that the best strategy to reduce portfolio risk is to diversify internationally rather than nationally. However, despite the gains from international portfolio diversification investors still overweight their portfolios with the domestic assets. This is referred to as the |equity home bias|. Many researches based on traditional theory fail in explaining how financial decisions are truly made. In this work, we explore behavioural finance to develop a model in which we identify a new covariance matrix and we allow investors to express sentiment and views about domestic and foreign markets separately. Our results have the potential to explain the home bias puzzle.

Keywords: equity home bias; asset allocation; portfolio selection; domestic assets; investors psychology; familiarity; international diversification; comfort-seeking; behavioural finance; domestic securities; domestic equity opportunities; investment opportunities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBAF.2009.027451

International Journal of Behavioural Accounting and Finance, 2009 Vol.1 No.2, pp.167 - 178

Published online: 25 Jul 2009 *

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