Peer effects, personal characteristics and asset allocation

Both academic researchers and practitioners know that behavioural biases can drive household financial decisions away from standard finance models, and that people don’t always follow the professional advice they receive. Peer effects have been found to influence financial decision making, but it can be hard to know the relative importance of different influences. For example, does an individual listen more to their friend or their colleague? And are these social connections more important than personal characteristics and financial advice in an individuals’ financial decision making?