京都大学 大学院経済学研究科・経済学部

タイトル: “De-biasing Retail Structured Finance: A Field Experiment on Nudge Interventions”
 

Abstract:　We conduct a randomized field experiment with a major bank in Korea to investigate how behavioral nudges influence retail demand for complex structured products. We test two point-of-sale nudge interventions—enhanced gain-loss visualization and cross-risk-class product comparison—and find that both significantly reduce the probability of purchasing structured equity products (SEP; known in Korea as equity-linked securities, or ELS). These treatments operate through distinct margins: while visualization steers investors toward safer products (the intensive margin), comparison primarily reduces overall participation (the extensive margin). Treatment effects are highly heterogeneous: women, older investors, and low-income individuals respond more sharply. The nudges are less effective when extrapolative optimism is high and seller incentives are strong. Our results support the risk-shrouding view of financial innovation, suggesting that demand for complex products often stems from misinformed risk-taking rather than efficient risk-sharing. We conclude that while low-cost nudges can effectively de-bias investors, their impact is contingent upon the joint interaction of investor demographics, seller incentives, and prevailing market conditions.