Lab Tests Show Imitation Fuels Market Herding
Source: sciencedirect.com
- Researchers tested if people copy others' irrational choices in economic games to explain real-world bubbles.
- In lab experiments with 96 participants, subjects matched irrational bids from others 70% of the time, even when knowing better options.
- This herding behavior shows how social imitation can drive market bubbles without needing complex reasons.
Economists ran controlled lab experiments to see if people blindly copy bad financial decisions made by others, mimicking how stock market bubbles form. They used a simple game where players bid on an asset with known value, sometimes seeing others' irrational high bids. The key finding is that strong social influence makes people follow the crowd, even against their own judgment, which helps explain why bubbles persist in real markets. This matters because it reveals a basic human tendency that