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Is Knowledge Cursed When Forecasting the Forecasts of Others?

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 10:20 authored by Swee-Hoon ChuahSwee-Hoon Chuah, Jean Robert HoffmannJean Robert Hoffmann, Liu, B, Tan, M
Financial decision makers (lenders, insurers, advisees) often need to estimate how well others make decisions. Is knowledge a blessing or a curse when forecasting others’ forecast accuracy? The authors show that this depends on its type. Within a single experimental setting, they identify and test 4 distinct information types that have different effects on forecast accuracy. First, the authors revisit the well-known “curse of knowledge” and show that it may have resulted from entirely arbitrary, uninformative anchors. Second, we show that in contrast, genuinely informative cues purged of anchoring potential enhance estimation accuracy. Third, richer, more detailed financial information has no effect even for participants better able to interpret it. Fourth, domain experts do not overimpute others’ forecast ability. The authors conclude that in financial settings knowledge may be a blessing or a curse, or have no effect depending on its type.

History

Publication title

The Journal of Behavioral Finance

Volume

20

Pagination

66-72

ISSN

1542-7560

Department/School

TSBE

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United States

Rights statement

© 2018 The Institute of Behavioral Finance

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Preference, behaviour and welfare

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    University Of Tasmania

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