Publications
Publications
- Fall 2024
- Journal of Economic Perspectives
The Problem of Good Conduct Among Financial Advisers
By: Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos and Amit Seru
Abstract
Households in the United States often rely on financial advisers for investment and savings decisions, yet there is a widespread perception that many advisers are dishonest. This distrust is not unwarranted: approximately one in fifteen advisers has a history of serious misconduct, with this rate rising to one in six in certain regions and firms. We explore the economic foundations of the financial advisory industry and demonstrate how heterogeneity in household financial sophistication and conflicts of interest allow poor financial advice to persist. Using data on the universe of financial advisers and the Survey of Consumer Finances, we document who uses financial advisers and the prevalence of misconduct in the industry. Our findings suggest that a lack of financial sophistication is a key friction, making enhanced disclosure a potentially effective policy response. Supporting this, we show through a difference-in-differences approach that "naming and shaming" firms with high misconduct rates was associated with a 10 percent reduction in misconduct.
Keywords
Citation
Egan, Mark, Gregor Matvos, and Amit Seru. "The Problem of Good Conduct Among Financial Advisers." Journal of Economic Perspectives 38, no. 4 (Fall 2024): 193–210.