Hersh Shefrin
Hersh Shefrin (born in Winnipeg, Canada) is an economist best known for his pioneering work in behavioral finance.
Shefrin received his B.S. from University of Manitoba in 1970. At the University of Waterloo in 1971 he received his M.S. in mathematics. He then obtained a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics in 1974, after which he became assistant professor at the University of Rochester. In 1979 he was appointed professor at the Santa Clara University, first in the department of economics and then in 1990 to the department of finance.
Shefrin holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Oulu, Finland. He has long standing collaborations with Richard Thaler and Meir Statman on behavioral finance, being one of the first economists to have incorporated ideas from psychologists like Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman into working theories.
Shefrin's research articles have been published in many economics and finance journals, in particular: the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Financial Management, the Financial Analysts Journal, and the Journal of Portfolio Management. Shefrin has written a number of influential books on behavioral finance and its applications to corporate finance and corporate culture.
Shefrin and his wife, Arna, were married in 1970.
Books
- Behavioral Corporate Finance, 2006. McGraw-Hill/Irwin
- A Behavioral Approach to Asset Pricing Theory, 2005. Elsevier; 2nd edition in 2008.
- Ending the Management Illusion, 2008. McGraw-Hill
- Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1999. Revised version published 2002, New York: Oxford University Press
Selected articles
- “An Economic Theory of Self-Control”, with R. Thaler, Journal of Political Economy, 1981.
- “The Disposition to Sell Winners Too Early and Ride Losers Too Long: Theory and Evidence”, with M. Statman, Journal of Finance, Vol. XL, No. 3, 1985.
- “Behavioral Capital Asset Pricing Theory”, with M. Statman, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, September, 1994.
- “The Contributions of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky”, with Meir Statman. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 2003.