Finfluencers

We examine how “finfluencers”—that is, social media influencers who provide investment advice—affect investment beliefs and the willingness to invest in stocks and cryptocurrencies. In an online experiment with young adult females from the United States, some respondents are randomly exposed to a short educational video featuring a celebrity who provides investment advice about either the stock market or cryptocurrency. Our main outcomes of interest are the willingness to invest in stocks and cryptocurrencies, as well as beliefs about the returns on the stock market and cryptocurrency investments. Furthermore, to isolate how the educational content of the videos affects investment decisions, we further include two mechanism treatments in which some respondents are exposed to neutral text-based versions of the videos. The results will provide the first step in understanding how finfluencers—who may be sponsored by third parties to promote risky financial products—affect financial beliefs and decisions.