This book helps readers understand the widely documented distortion in the portfolio choice of individual investors toward proximate firms - the proximity bias phenomenon. First, it recapitulates the fundamentals of modern portfolio theory. It then goes on to describe and demonstrate different approaches on how to measure proximity bias and identifies and examines potential motives and reasons for such a bias. In addition, the book presents new analysis on the financial effects of individual investors' proximity bias, explaining and contributing with possible policy implications on their portfolio distortion. This book will be of interest to students and researchers, as well as decision-makers in business firms and households.

This book reviews problems with credit use and causes of indebtedness among young adults, while uncovering possibilities to encourage a healthier attitude towards loans in this segment of the population. Both consumption loans and mortgages are covered in order to adequately represent real-world credit use by young people about to enter adulthood. It focuses on three distinctive actors: the legislative authorities, the financial institution, most commonly a bank, and finally the individual borrower. More specifically, the book discusses the functioning of these three entities in the context of young adults borrowing behaviour, and would appeal to academics, researchers and students of financial institutions and banking.