NICHOLAS C. BARBERIS

Stephen and Camille Schramm Professor of Finance

Yale School of Management


Thank you for visiting my website at Yale SOM. Below, you can find:


Contact information

    Telephone
    203-436-0777

    E-mail
    nick.barberis AT yale.edu

    Regular mail
    Yale School of Management
    PO Box 208200
    New Haven CT 06520-8200

    Courier mail
    Yale School of Management
    165 Whitney Avenue
    New Haven CT 06511

Curriculum vitae

  • Click here for a recent curriculum vitae.

Research papers

For the past 25 years, I have worked on behavioral finance, a large and vibrant field that tries to understand financial markets using frameworks that make psychologically realistic assumptions about human behavior. Together with my co-authors, I build models of investor behavior and asset prices that are rooted in the cognitive science of how people form beliefs and make decisions under risk.

You can find more information about my research on my Google Scholar page here.

You can also click here for a description of my research agenda. (It's from a long time ago, but may still be of interest; I plan to post a new version soon.)

  • "Extrapolation and Bubbles", (with Robin Greenwood, Lawrence Jin, and Andrei Shleifer), Journal of Financial Economics 129, 203-227, August 2018.
  • "Realization Utility" (with Wei Xiong), Journal of Financial Economics 104, 251-271, May 2012.
    • Non-technical summary here
    • Two of my colleagues significantly advance this agenda here.
  • "A Model of Casino Gambling", Management Science 58, 35-51, January 2012 (Special Issue on Behavioral Economics).
    • Another version here with some additional material (Sections 4.3, 4.4, 7.2, and 7.3)
    • Some slides here
    • Non-technical summary here.
  • "Comovement" (with Andrei Shleifer and Jeffrey Wurgler), Journal of Financial Economics 75, 283-317, February 2005.
    • Non-technical summary here.
  • "Style Investing" (with Andrei Shleifer), Journal of Financial Economics 68, 161-199, May 2003.
    • Non-technical summary here.
  • "A Survey of Behavioral Finance" (with Richard Thaler), in Constantinides, G., Harris, M., Stulz, R. (Eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, North Holland, Amsterdam, 2003.
  • "Prospect Theory and Asset Prices" (with Ming Huang and Tano Santos), Quarterly Journal of Economics 116, 1-53, February 2001. Awarded the 2000 FAME Research Prize.
    • Non-technical summary here.

Videos and other media

  • Behavioral Finance, Presentation at "The Chicago School of Finance at 125" Conference at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, October 2023.
    • A short overview of the history of behavioral finance research and of some current research directions. My talk is the first 20 minutes of the video. There follow a presentation by another speaker and some open discussion.
    • The slides are available here.
  • Behavioral Finance, Lecture at the Institute for Advanced Study, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, November 2016.
    • If you are interested in a quick (40-minute) introduction to key ideas in behavioral finance, try this video.
  • Psychological Drivers of Asset Prices and Investor Behavior, Lecture at the London Business School Insight Summit, November 2018.
    • This is similar in content to the previous video -- an introduction to behavioral finance ideas -- in a more formal setting. It's a 35-minute talk followed by 10 minutes of questions.
  • Silly Things Investors Do, Discussion with Tobias Moskowitz and Richard Thaler as part of the AQR Curious Investor podcast, 2018.
  • Behavioral Finance: Core Principles and Practical Applications, presented at the 2014 CFA Institute Annual Conference as part of their "masterclass" series.
    • The talk lasts about 90 minutes and is followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. It covers three well-developed ideas (over-extrapolation, overconfidence, and prospect theory) as well as three emerging topics (experience effects, social psychology, and neuroeconomics). Big theme: behavioral finance is about the important stuff, not just "the icing on the rational cake."
    • A reading list to accompany the talk is here.

Behavioral finance online lectures

In January 2017, as part of the American Economic Association's Continuing Education program, Ulrike Malmendier and I delivered a two-day, 12-hour course on behavioral finance. The lectures were recorded and are available for free online here.

Master's students, PhD students, and faculty members in economics and finance who are interested in learning more about behavioral finance may find these lectures helpful. I did the first half (Parts 1 through 4) on applications to asset prices and investor behavior; Ulrike did the second half (Parts 5 through 9) on corporate finance applications. The slides for my part are here.


Former students

I devote a lot of time to working with PhD students and helping them with their dissertation research. Here are links to some of the students I have advised in past years. I very much recommend taking a look at their work if you are not already familiar with it!

NBER Working Group on Behavioral Finance

In 1991, Robert Shiller and Richard Thaler co-founded the Behavioral Finance Working Group under the auspices of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). They ran it for 24 years and, through twice-yearly conferences, built it into the leading venue for presentation of high-quality research in behavioral finance.

I took over as Director in summer 2015. Below, you can find the programs of the 18 conferences I have organized as Director so far. About 80 of the most active researchers in the field attend each time; the spring meeting is in Chicago, and the fall meeting is in Cambridge, MA. Attendance is by invitation only, per NBER policy. However, the meetings are live-streamed on the NBER's Youtube channel, and everyone is welcome to watch the presentations and discussions there.

Behavioral Economics Annual Meeting (BEAM)

In 2009, Ulrike Malmendier (UC Berkeley), Ted O'Donoghue (Cornell), and I co-founded the Behavioral Economics Annual Meeting, known as BEAM for short. Our goal was to set up an annual conference where researchers in behavioral economics could gather to present and discuss their latest ideas.

The conference has convened every year since 2009; Ulrike, Ted, and I have co-organized it each time. The event takes place in May and its location cycles between UC Berkeley, Cornell, and Yale. Every year, the event attracts about 100 of the most active researchers in the field. Because of capacity constraints, attendance is by invitation only. However, anyone is welcome to submit a paper for consideration; the deadline is in late January.

You can find more information about BEAM, including all past programs, at the official website here.


Summer school in behavioral finance

The Yale Summer School in Behavioral Finance is a one-week intensive course in behavioral finance for PhD students. The goal is to introduce students to the latest developments in the field and to give them a chance to interact with each other and with established researchers.

The first program took place in the week of June 22nd, 2009. Six faculty from Yale and other universities taught the program and 40 students participated.

The second program took place in the week of June 27th, 2011. Eight faculty taught the program and 44 students participated.

The third program took place in the week of June 24th, 2013. Eight faculty taught the program and 46 students participated (see first photo below!).

The fourth program took place in the week of June 22nd, 2015. Nine faculty taught the program and 44 students participated.

The fifth program took place in the week of June 19th, 2017. Nine faculty taught the program and 42 students participated.

The sixth program took place in the week of June 24th, 2019. Ten faculty taught the program and 44 students participated (see second photo below!).

The seventh program took place in the week of June 13th, 2022. Eight faculty taught the program and 49 students participated.

The eighth program took place in the week of June 10th, 2024. Seven faculty taught the program and 46 students participated. (The original application form is here.)




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