H. Kent Baker Center for Behavioral Finance
The H. Kent Baker Center for Behavioral Finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business focuses on how people make financial decisions.
Established through a gift from H. Kent Baker, MBA ’69, DBA ’72, M.Ed. ’74, the center is only the second named center of its kind in the United States. It brings together the Smith School’s finance research and faculty to examine how psychology, in addition to economic factors, influences financial behavior.
Behavioral finance studies how emotions, biases, information and social factors affect how investors make decisions and build portfolios. The field complements traditional finance by helping explain observed behavior that standard models do not fully capture.
The center supports research, academic conferences and collaboration in behavioral finance.
Leadership
Geoffrey Tate is director of the H. Kent Baker Center for Behavioral Finance. He is the Dean’s Professor of Finance and chair of the finance department at the Smith School. His research focuses on behavioral and corporate finance, including how managerial biases affect firm decisions.
Center News
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