Behavioural Finance as a Methodological Approach for Historians? A Field Report Concerning the Construction of the Canal of Corinth in Nineteenth-Century Greece

Abstract

Historians investigating the risk perception of bankers and the decision-making processes in banks could consider the behavioural finance approach to investigate their sources. In this chapter, this is illustrated using a case study concerning the financing of the construction of a maritime canal at Corinth (1882-1893). It can be shown that the risk perception of the French bank Comptoir d'Escompte can be analysed following the model of Joseph A. Litterer. The bankers' investment decision was influenced by two biases described by behavioural finance as 'belief in experts' and 'overconfidence'. The analysis of the way these biases came about and worked allows banking, political and cultural history to be combined in a coherent narrative.