Financial literacy and financial advice seeking: Does product specificity matter?

We study the effect of financial literacy on financial advice seeking. We test the relationship across different measures of the former and the latter, providing a contribution to the existing literature. Overall results suggest complementarity, but when considering product-specific financial literacy and financial advice seeking, a complementary effect emerges for investments and debt, while a substitution effect prevails for insurance and pension products. Financial advising services can therefore compensate for the lack of financial literacy in insurance and pension planning in the short run. Conversely, greater policy efforts are needed for investment and loans, where poor financial literacy translates into a scarce demand for financial advice

Financial literacy and financial advice seeking: Does product specificity matter?

We study the effect of financial literacy on financial advice seeking. We test the relationship across different measures of the former and the latter, providing a contribution to the existing literature. Overall results suggest complementarity, but when considering product-specific financial literacy and financial advice seeking, a complementary effect emerges for investments and debt, while a substitution effect prevails for insurance and pension products. Financial advising services can therefore compensate for the lack of financial literacy in insurance and pension planning in the short run. Conversely, greater policy efforts are needed for investment and loans, where poor financial literacy translates into a scarce demand for financial advice

Classification of Sustainable Activities: EU Taxonomy and Scientific Literature

none4openLucarelli, Caterina; Mazzoli, Camilla; Rancan, Michela; Severini, SabrinaLucarelli, Caterina; Mazzoli, Camilla; Rancan, Michela; Severini, Sabrin

Pre-trade transparency on the Italian Stock Exchange: a trade size model on panel data

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects that have been caused by changes in pre-trade transparency upon the behavior of stock traders. We used a trade size model and tested it before, during and after the period when the Italian Stock Exchange introduced a 20-level order book with disaggregated orders. Tick by tick data of the whole set of stocks (up to 277) listed on the Italian Stock Exchange were studied through fixed-effects panel models, within intra day (every 30 minutes and 150 minutes) and daily time frames. Our results indicate that order flows, bidask spreads, levels of risk and some information events differentially affect trade sizes when investors receive better information prior to negotiation. Both (intra day) informed and uninformed traders perating in a more transparent market became more reticent, with reduced trades sizes and higher orders’ cancellations. Moreover, it appears that the higher degree of order book disclosure permits traders to downsize their level of risk aversion; i.e. it reduces the ’uncertainty’ that would otherwise result in disrupted trading activity under conditions of information opacity

The social side of IPOs: Twitter sentiment and investors attention in the IPO primary market

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To Fee or not to fee: pricing policies in financial counseling

Pricing represents a key variable in the financial advisory industry. For this reason we investigate the possibility of identifying the type of advisory provided by making use of the pricing policy that advisors adopt in the United States and Italy. The prevalence of ‘opaque’ forms of compensation leads us to identify which variables are able to predict the pricing policies (transparent vs. opaque) of a financial advisor. Results suggest that they are related to: the advisor’s regulatory status (independent advisor or tied agent), the presence of certifications issued by independent authorities, the involvement in a financial products distribution process and the high or low frequency of the payments that are due for the advisory service

THE ROLE OF INTANGIBLES DISCLOSURE IN ITALIAN IPOS: AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY MARKET INVESTORS’ REACTIONS

PURPOSE We study how primary and secondary market investors react to intangibles information disclosed in Italian IPOs. Previous literature on intangibles information disclosure as a determinant of IPO underpricing has reported inconsistent results; moreover, an area that has remained unexplored is to what extent different categories of market investors react to such information disclosure. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Based on a sample of firms listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, we employ factor analysis to uncover the most relevant intangible assets disclosed in IPO prospectuses; this information is then included in a series of regressions which read into the reaction of primary and secondary market investors by means of price variations. FINDINGS Primary market investors are found to be more sensitive to information regarding the company’s attitude towards its human capital and to that describing its innovation capacity in terms of IT and R&D investment. Secondary market investors are more sensitive to strategic alliances, research and development, and future plans. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS Our findings can be generalized, but the empirical evidence would be more relevant if tested in different geographical contexts (i.e., Europe and/or the USA). PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Our empirical results could help firms be more selective in their disclosure, thus possibly soothing management’s concerns regarding an overly extensive, and therefore risky, dissemination of non-financial information and avoiding them to incur unnecessary costs. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS Being aware of how the stock market reacts to the information disclosed is crucial in determining new regulations and accounting standards. ORIGINALITY We introduce an unbiased categorization of intangibles variables that supplants the multiple classifications proposed in the literature and we set apart the reaction of primary and secondary market IPO investors to the intangible information disclosure