Fatores que influenciam a tomada de decisão dos agentes à luz das finanças comportamentais

Abstract

Classical finance theory shaped homo economicus as a perfectly rational being capable of absorbing all available information and maximizing satisfaction. This current of studies is based on Neoclassical Microeconomics, whose main pillar is the rationality of the economic agent. Behavioral Finance brought new investigations about the behavior of agents, where these, in turn, endowed with limited rationality, bring volatility to the financial market. This new theory of the study of finance contradicts the classical theory, and states that agents do not have the unlimited rationality brought by the old paradigm. This monograph brings a bibliographic review of the main investigations and studies on the behavior of agents. Its main objective is to present the main theses of this field of investigation, and to identify the main factors that influence the decision-making of agents in the light of Behavioral Finance. The work addresses a methodology of systematic review of the main theories that guide the behavior of agents, such as the Expected Utility Theory, by Bernoulli (1938), the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, by Fama (1970) and the Prospect Theory, by Kahneman and Tversky (1979). In addition, the monograph presents real data from a survey carried out, which worked with the same methodology as Prospect Theory. Finally, hypotheses and practical examples of cognitive biases identified by psychology in a recent movement in the Brazilian stock market are presented.