Meet our faculty: Professor Matti Keloharju

Matti Keloharju has worked and influenced activities at the School of Business for a significant period of time. He has served as Professor of Finance since 1999. At the start of 2013, Keloharju was recognised for his persistent and distinguished work as he was called to receive the Eero Kasanen professorship at the Aalto University School of Business.

Keloharju is an Academy Professor from 2016 to 2020.

His primary research interest lies in investor behaviour, an area in which he is one of the leading scholars in the world. According to Keloharju, Finland offers exceptionally good opportunities for the study of investor behaviour.

’I specialised in the study of investor behaviour partly because of pure interest and partly because Finnish data in this area provides a genuine competitive advantage’, he explains.

’In Finland, it has been possible for researchers to obtain highly detailed and comprehensive data on the actions of individual investors.’

The majority of the research carried out on investor behaviour is empirical.

’In these studies, conclusions are drawn on the behaviour of investors either indirectly from data on, for example, returns from stocks or trading volume or by direct observation of the behaviour of investor groups, or in the best case, individual investors', Keloharju says.

International networking is important for top-level research in finance. According to Keloharju, international teams consisting of researchers operating in different countries are highly typical in his field.

’The majority of my partners in my research work in foreign universities, and I am in almost daily contact with them.’

Keloharju’s international work also involves a great deal of travel, and he participates in a number of research seminars throughout the world. For example this autumn, he will travel to Asia and Australia where he will present his research in a total of eight universities.

’It is wonderful to be the first in the world to observe and document central correlations.’

According to Keloharju, competition in the study of financing has accelerated as the years have passed. With it, the amount of resources required has also increased.

’In order to meet the publication threshold of a high-level journal, a study must be at least as innovative but more comprehensive and methodologically more accomplished than, for instance, ten years ago', he states.

Despite its demands, he finds the research work rewarding.

’It is wonderful to be the first in the world to observe and document central correlations in the behaviour of investors. These correlations may impact the behaviour of millions of investors. The amount of money in this game is huge.’

Watch Professor Matti Keloharju's Installation lecture Behavioral Biases: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly  11.12.2013: