Three Essays on Non-Standard Investors: Skewness Preferences and ESG

Since the introduction of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (Sharpe, 1964; Lintner, 1965) and the mean- variance framework (Markowitz, 1952) for investment decisions, the field of individual financial decision- making has expanded in several directions. In this dissertation, I will focus on two of these areas: skewness preferences and ESG preferences. The first chapter is based on Benuzzi, M., & Ploner, M. (2024). Skewness- seeking behavior and financial investments. Annals of Finance, 20(1), 129-165 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10436-023-00437-y). The second chapter is based on Benuzzi, M., Klaser, K., & Bax, K. (2024). Which ESG+ F dimension matters most to retail investors? An experimental study on financial decisions and future generations. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 41, 100882 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2023.100882). The third chapter is based on Benuzzi, M., Bax, K., Paterlini, S., & Taufer, E. (2023). Chasing ESG Performance: How Methodologies Shape Outcomes. Available at SSRN 4662257 (https://ssrn.com/abstract=4662257). Conclusions and avenues for future research end this dissertation.