Mental Models in Finance: How We Make Sense of Complex Financial Markets

On  Tuesday, November 30th, 2026 Prof. Dr. Marten Laudi will hold his inaugural. The lecture is open to the public. After the lecture there will be a buffet and drinks. 

While attendance is free of charge, we only have limited seats available. 
Registration will start soon. Please register ahead of time and consider this carefully because we are booking a caterer for this event.

• Registration mandatory, please register by using this link Register now
• Reception after lecture
• Venue: KLU Forum / Foyer

By registering, you agree to the use of the images/videos taken during the event for KLU communications and marketing purposes. You can contradict this at any time. Please send a mail to press@klu.org.
 

Finance is complicated. Financial decisions involve uncertainty, competing objectives, and often more information than individuals can reasonably process. Neoclassical finance provides a benchmark for rational choice in these complex decision environments. However, observed behavior often departs from this benchmark. One way to understand these departures is through mental models: simplified representations of reality that influence which information people consider, how they interpret it, and ultimately how they decide.

The role of mental models becomes particularly apparent in sustainable investing. Many investors want their money to have a positive societal or environmental impact. But how can an investment in financial markets generate impact? Does avoiding shares of carbon-intensive companies reduce carbon emissions? The mechanisms through which investment decisions affect the environment and society are complex, encouraging investors to rely on simplified mental models.

Taking sustainable investing as a starting point, the lecture brings together evidence from different areas of behavioral finance. Rather than simply documenting deviations from rational choice, it seeks to understand why they occur, when information can change financial decisions, and how these mechanisms influence investor behavior and financial markets.
 

Prof. Dr. Marten Laudi is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Kühne Logistics University (KLU). Before joining KLU, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Finance at the University of Bremen, where his position was endowed by Sparkasse Bremen. He received his PhD in Finance from Maastricht University under the supervision of Paul Smeets and Rob Bauer. During his doctoral studies, he visited Michael Norton’s lab at Harvard Business School and was a guest researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt. He is also a Fellow at Netspar.

His research focuses on sustainable finance and behavioral finance. Methodologically, his work combines laboratory and field experiments, the analysis of large archival datasets, and the construction of novel datasets from unstructured data sources. His research is closely connected to practice and often conducted in collaboration with financial institutions and practitioners.

He teaches courses across various areas of Finance and follows a student-centered teaching approach that emphasizes interaction and the integration of current research insights into teaching.