EconBase
← All papers

Why Markets are Inefficient: A Gambling "Theory" of Financial Markets For Practitioners and Theorists

Steven D. Moffitt

arXiv 6 Jan 2018 · Econometrics · 6 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:1801.01948 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to propose a new "theory," the Strategic Analysis of Financial Markets (SAFM) theory, that explains the operation of financial markets using the analytical perspective of an enlightened gambler. The gambler understands that all opportunities for superior performance arise from suboptimal decisions by humans, but understands also that knowledge of human decision making alone is not enough to understand market behavior --- one must still model how those decisions lead to market prices. Thus are there three parts to the model: gambling theory, human decision making, and strategic problem solving. A new theory is necessary because at this writing in 2017, there is no theory of financial markets acceptable to both practitioners and theorists. Theorists' efficient market theory, for example, cannot explain bubbles and crashes nor the exceptional returns of famous investors and speculators such as Warren Buffett and George Soros. At the same time, a new theory must be sufficiently quantitative, explain market "anomalies" and provide predictions in order to satisfy theorists. It is hoped that the SAFM framework will meet these requirements.

Citation extraction

35
references
53
in-text mentions
35
distinct cited
4
self-citations
14,111
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 99% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Moffitt, S. D (2017) The Strategic Analysis of Financial Markets, Volume 1: Framework self1.000104100%
2Moffitt, S. D (2017) The Strategic Analysis of Financial Markets, Volume 2: Trading System Analytics self1.00053100%
3Miller, E. M (1977) Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion0.64422100%
4Shleifer, A (2000) Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance (Clarendon Lectures in Economics)0.58531100%
5MacLean, L. C., Thorp, E. O., and Ziemba, W. T., editors (2011) THE KELLY CAPITAL GROWTH INVESTMENT CRITERION:Theory and Practice, volume 30.51121100%
6Kahneman, D (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow0.51121100%
7Haugen, R. A. and Heins, A. J (1975) Risk and the rate of return on financial assets: Some old wine in new bottles0.40511100%
8Haugen, R. A. and Baker, N. L (1991) The efficient market inefficiency of capitalization-weighted stock portfolios0.40511100%
9Bernard, V. L., , and Thomas, J. K (1989) Post-earnings-announcement drift: Delayed price response or risk premium?0.40511100%
10Cooley, P. L. and Roenfeldt, R. L (1975) A comparative multivariate analysis of factors affecting stock returns0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 35 scored citations.