Matthias Scherf

• This thesis contains four parts that are all connected by their contributions to the Efficient Market Hypothesis and decision-making literature. Chapter two investigates how national stock market indices reacted to the news of national lockdown restrictions in the period from January to May 2020. The results show that lockdown restrictions led to different reactions in a sample of OECD and BRICS countries: there was a general negative effect resulting from the increase in lockdown restrictions, but the study finds strong evidence for underreaction during the lockdown announcement, followed by some overreaction that is corrected subsequently. This under-/overreaction pattern, however, is observed mostly during the first half of our time series, pointing to learning effects. Relaxation of the lockdown restrictions, on the other hand, had a positive effect on markets only during the second half of our sample, while for the first half of the sample, the effect was negative. The third chapter investigates the gender differences in stock selection preferences on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. By utilizing trading data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange over a span of six years, it becomes possible to analyze trading behavior while minimizing the self-selection bias that is typically present in brokerage data. To study gender differences, this study uses firm-level data. The percentage of male traders in a company is the dependent variable, while the company’s industry and fundamental/technical aspects serve as independent variables. The results show that the percentage of women trading a company rises with a company’s age, market capitalization, a company’s systematic risk, and return. Men trade more frequently and show a preference for dividend-paying stocks and for industries with which they are more familiar. The fourth chapter investigated the relationship between regret and malicious and benign envy. The relationship is analyzed in two different studies. In experiment 1, subjects had to fill out psychological scales that measured regret, the two types of envy, core self-evaluation and the big 5 personality traits. In experiment 2, felt regret is measured in a hypothetical scenario, and the subject’s felt regret was regressed on the other variables mentioned above. The two experiments revealed that there is a positive direct relationship between regret and benign envy. The relationship between regret and malicious envy, on the other hand, is mostly an artifact of core self-evaluation and personality influencing both malicious envy and regret. The relationship can be explained by the common action tendency of self-improvement for regret and benign envy. Chapter five discusses the differences in green finance regulation and implementation between the EU and China. China introduced the Green Silk Road, while the EU adopted the Green Deal and started working with its own green taxonomy. The first difference comes from the definition of green finance, particularly with regard to coal-fired power plants. Especially the responsibility of nation-states’ emissions abroad. China is promoting fossil fuel projects abroad through its Belt and Road Initiative, but the EU’s Green Deal does not permit such actions. Furthermore, there are policies in both the EU and China that create contradictory incentives for economic actors. On the one hand, the EU and China are improving the framework conditions for green financing while, on the other hand, still allowing the promotion of conventional fuels. The role of central banks is also different between the EU and China. China’s central bank is actively working towards aligning the financial sector with green finance. A possible new role of the EU central bank or the priority financing of green sectors through political decision-making is still being debated.