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This paper sets out to corroborate the existing literature on investors' risk tolerance and to assess how the 2008 financial crisis has affected risk tolerance among Italian investors.

Based on a unique dataset of real-world portfolio choices made by 1,245 Italian investors over a period of 15 years (from 2003 to 2017), this paper presents two steps of analysis. In step 1, the whole period 2003–2017 is considered with the aim to integrate and corroborate the existing literature on the topic of risk tolerance, considering a complete economic and financial cycle. Step 2 took 2008 as the pivotal point between pre-crisis (2003–2008) and crisis (2009–2017) with the aim to observe the influence on risk appetite of the economic and financial effects of the crisis.

The results obtained confirm that men are more risk tolerant than women and older people are less risk-taking than their younger counterparts, although the relationship between age and risk tolerance is not necessarily linear. Moreover, our paper demonstrates that a crisis scenario has an influence on Italian investors' risk tolerance.

Our results are of interest to financial advisors, financial planners, asset managers, psychologists, behavioral researchers and more in general to providers of financial products and services.

The results presented in this paper are relevant and original because they are based on real investors who made real choices concerning their portfolio asset allocations.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between board composition and a firm’s commitment to combatting climate change. Specifically, this study investigates how various characteristics of the board, namely its size and presence of independent directors, and of the directors themselves, including gender diversity, age, educational background and national homogeneity, affect the corporate-level climate change orientation. From a theoretical standpoint, the authors take a cross-fertilizing perspective, bridging upper echelons theory with agency, resource dependence and critical mass theories.

The study uses ordered probit regression models on a hand-collected multi-country and multi-industry sample of 35 listed firms included in the Global Climate Change Liquid Equity Index (GALPLACC) provided by ECPI. This index is particularly relevant as it focuses on firms that have demonstrated a commitment to climate change, providing a robust dataset for the analysis.

The findings underscore the importance of disentangling various characteristics of corporate boards and directors. Specifically, the orientation toward climate change is negatively influenced by both board size and having a higher number of independent directors, while it is positively affected by reaching a critical mass of women on the board. Conversely, factors such as average age, educational background and the level of national homogeneity do not show significant effects.

This paper has an exploratory nature and contributes to the ongoing debate on the crucial, yet controversial role played by board-level and directors’ sociodemographic characteristics in shaping a firm’s environmental stance. Moreover, this study offers potential recommendations for policymakers regarding board composition to enhance firms’ climate change orientation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine which individual traits of financial advisors influence portfolio transfer speed when a financial advisor recommends investors to migrate to a new financial intermediary.

With reference to the years 2014–2016, one of the three leading Italian tied-agent banks provided the authors with an exclusive and unique data set containing information regarding the financial advisors who had become tied agents, transferring their existing portfolios from their previous banks (traditional or tied-agent banks). The authors observed the ability of the migrant financial advisor in successfully transferring the entire portfolio declared within 12 months of observation. To investigate empirically which personal traits of financial advisors determine their success in the rapid transfer of clients’ portfolios to a new financial intermediary, the authors applied a Cox proportional hazards model.

The authors find that factors such as age, type of bank of origin and size of the managed financial portfolio positively affect the speed transfer.

The obtained results may be interesting for guiding recruiting policies of financial intermediaries.

Regulators should closely examine the phenomenon analyzed in this paper to avoid conflict of interests.

The literature on this topic is scarce, mainly due to the lack of available data. This paper represents an original contribution to open a new field of research.

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework on how the representativeness heuristic operates in the decision-making process. Specifically, the authors unbundle representativeness into its building blocks: search rule, stopping rule and decision rule. Furthermore, the focus is placed on how individual-level cognitive and behavioral factors, namely experience, intuition and overconfidence, affect the functioning of this heuristic.

From a theoretical standpoint, the authors build on dual-process theories and on the adaptive toolbox view from the “fast and frugal heuristics” perspective to develop an integrative conceptual framework that uncovers the mechanisms underlying the representativeness heuristic.

The authors’ conceptualization suggests that the search rule used in representativeness is based on analogical mapping from previous experience, the stopping rule is the representational stability of the analogs and the decision rule is the choice of the alternative upon which there is a convergence of representations and that exceeds the decision maker's aspiration level. In this framework, intuition may help the decision maker to cross-map potentially competing analogies, while overconfidence affects the search time and costs and alters both the stopping and the decision rule.

The authors develop a conceptual framework on representativeness, as one of the most common, though still poorly investigated, heuristics. The model offers a nuanced perspective that explores the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms that shape the use of representativeness in decision-making. The authors also discuss the theoretical implications of their model and outline future research avenues that may further contribute to enriching their understanding of decision-making processes.

Inspired by the groundbreaking novel European regulations on financial investors’ profiling (MiFID II regulation and the ESMA 2022 Guidelines), this paper aims to establish which distinctive socio-demographic traits distinguish investors who declare a generalized interest in all three environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) pillars and investors who express interest in just one individual pillar or a combination of two pillars.

Based on a unique dataset of 190 real-world retail investors, this paper aims to create a profile of three types of investor: those whose interest lies in just the environmental pillar, those interested in a combination of the environmental and social pillars, and those interested in all three E, S, and G pillars jointly. Moreover, we try to ascertain whether it is possible to observe statistically significant differences between the different types of investors.

The results obtained indicate that it is possible to profile investors who are environmentally-oriented and investors who are ESG-oriented. Notably, levels of financial literacy do not influence investor ESG attitudes.

The results obtained may have multifaceted implications for financial advisors, the banking and financial institution industry, and marketing strategists, as well as for further research.

The originality of this paper derives from the responses used in the analysis, which were collected from a sample of real-world retail investors who completed a mandatory MiFID-questionnaire, validated by the Italian Securities and Markets Supervisory Authority. Our paper thus represents a bridge between a theoretical approach and real-world practice.

This paper investigates the stock market reaction to three different events related to the UEFA Champions League – the announcements of draws, odds and match results. The aim of the paper is to test whether these events are informative for stock market operators, i.e. whether they produce abnormal returns.

Applying the event study methodology, the authors investigate the stock market reaction before (at two events: the draw date and on the release of betting odds) and after the matches of 11 listed soccer teams in the period 2003–2019. The authors also conduct OLS regression analyses in order to disentangle the impact of firm specific variables and match characteristics on cumulative abnormal returns.

This paper finds that match outcomes affect the stock market performance of listed teams, while the announcements of draws and odds do not. More specifically, the market does not consider match outcomes involving wins and ties as informative events, while it penalizes losing teams. Moreover, investor reactions to events related to the UCL competition depend more on match characteristics than on company specific variables.

The study enriches the ongoing debate about the impact of soccer team results on stock market performance in several ways: using the widest time span ever adopted in this area; focusing on UCL, which is the most important soccer competition played by private clubs; disentangling for the first time the effects of draws, odds release and sporting outcome on stock returns of listed soccer clubs.

The conclusions summarize the main empirical evidence that emerged in the book and put forward final reflections and some recommendations for scholars and policymakers. First, the reader is reminded that the book focuses on how a desirable and ambitious agenda that contemplates a progress-oriented policy system is feasible when confronted with the challenges of its implementation and the related problem of coordination between the goals it postulates. The purpose of the concluding chapter is to extrapolate the findings from the individual analyses and synthesize them into a single interpretative proposal centered on two analytical pillars. The first is the analysis and management of the complexity generated by wickedness, through the reconstruction of types of complexity and consequences that the policymaker must acquire in terms of problem setting. The second is the analysis of the skills needed to manage said complexity, distinguishing between linear and nonlinear skills. These are the skills that the policymaker must acquire in terms of problem-solving. Both problem setting and problem solving are summarized in some final recommendations on what to do to improve the feasibility and effectiveness of sustainable development policies: the pragmatic culture of government and some supporting institutional tools, the importance of training as a lever of change, and the building of knowledge infrastructures in terms of evidence-based policymaking.

The UN 2030 Agenda defines sustainable development (SD) in a multidimensional approach that encompasses economic, social, and environmental aspects. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as conceptual ideals, specific targets, and standards that determine global and local priorities. SD falls into the realm of wicked problems due to its multilayered definitions, untamable nature, and possible solutions at an operational level. Addressing these complex problems and challenges requires the localization of the SDGs and the creation of a new governance model tailored to sustainability. These efforts aim to improve policy coherence for SD. This contribution focuses on the importance of localizing the SDGs, which aims to streamline the 2030 Agenda and tailor the SDGs to local needs. Therefore, the importance of multi-stakeholder participation in the formulation of local definitions of the SDGs, policymaking strategies, and consequently the measurement of the SDGs is emphasized. This chapter provides insights into the specific tools and strategies used by the Metropolitan Cities (MCs) in the implementation of coherent SDG policies, with Florence serving as a case study. Despite the challenges faced by MCs, including ambiguous leadership, conflicting objectives between municipalities, and challenges in coherent policy design, this institutional level shows interesting elements, such as functions of long-term planning and coordination, inclusive tools of participation, and the development of new capacities (political and administrative) that could be useful for strengthening governance for SD.

The introduction of the book is aimed at providing the reader with a comprehensive analytical framework on the purpose and content of sustainable development analysis as a wicked problem in policymaking. The UN's 2030 Agenda is an ambitious and far-reaching initiative that encompasses 17 broad goals and 169 targets, which may be too general and potentially conflicting. Translating this agenda into practice is a challenging and possibly frustrating task that requires a pragmatic and methodologically structured approach. Accordingly, the introduction is organized around five key concepts that favor a translation into practice: the definition of problems and solutions, the policymaking of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the wicked nature of policy problems in a sustainable development perspective, the specific kinds of capacity the policymakers must get to accomplish any task in the field of sustainable development, and, lastly, the type of policy design allocating ends and means for solving the problems. In particular, the theoretical framework supports the reader in understanding the wicked nature of sustainable development policies and the additional capacities policymakers must have in order to be able to design effective and coherent strategies. After a detailed presentation of each of the 12 chapters divided into two parts (six chapters in a section dedicated to the analysis of wicked sustainable development policies and six chapters dedicated to the analysis of the capacity of institutional instruments in resolving wickedness), the introduction anticipates the reader the rationale of the book.