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Household Finance - financial knowledge, financial consulting and financial decisions of private households

In recent years, a steadily growing field of research has established itself under the banner of Household Finance, which examines the provision and investment behaviour as well as the financing decisions of private households. Our research activities in this field focus on two thematic areas. On the one hand, we examine the influence that existing knowledge of financial issues and the use of financial advisory services have on the decision-making behaviour of private households. On the other hand, we focus on the empirical analysis of findings from Behavioral Finance, which suggest that the decision-making behavior of private households is characterized by limited rationality and the use of heuristics.

Reliable findings on the determinants of household financial decisions are becoming increasingly important: for example, pension reforms have turned private households into capital market participants in many countries of the world regardless of their individual competence in financial matters. The challenge of making informed financial decisions, however, can in many cases only be mastered by acquiring financial knowledge and raising awareness of costly investment errors or by using expert advisory services. Our Household Finance research agenda takes into account the particular importance of researching pension and investment decisions to ensure a suitable level of protection for broad sections of the population.

Below you will find more detailed information on current and completed projects. The respective research teams will be happy to answer any questions you may have.