Birds of a Feather: The Impact of Homophily on the Propensity to Follow Financial Advice

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Stolper, Oscar; Walter, Andreas
• 署名单位: Philipps University Marburg; Justus Liebig University Giessen
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhy082
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 524
• 关键词: MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS; RETAIL INVESTORS; SOCIAL-RELATIONS; GENDER; literacy; ADVISERS; association; segregation; performance; homogeneity

摘要

Homophilyindividuals' affinity for others like themis a powerful principle that governs whose opinions people attend to. Using nearly 2,400 advisory meetings, we find that homophily has a significant positive impact on the likelihood of following financial advice. The increased likelihood of following stems from homophily on gender and age for male clients and from sameness on marital and parental status for female advisees. Moreover, the homophily effect is mitigated by reduced information asymmetry between client and advisor and a long-term relationship with the bank. Our results suggest that client-advisor matching increases individuals' propensity to follow financial advice.