Paul Kedrosky: Research Round-up: Catastrophes and the Credit Market, etc.

I'll try to do these more often, but here is a quick list of some financial (and other) research papers that I've come across this week:

Who gambles in the stock market? Socioeconomic factors that favor buying lottery tickets -- like lower income -- favor buying stocks with lottery-type binary prospects (SSRN)
Sensation-seeking, over-confidence and the stock market. BASE jumpers love to trade, and they don't do any better than anyone else (JoF)
Catatsophic risk and credit markets. I just like the unintended pun, given Fannie/Freddie, in the title. The article is interesting, however, in that it highlights insurance market imperfections that reduce real estate prices in catastrophe-prone regions (J0F)
Securitization and the declining impact of bank finance on loan supply. A fascinating, if somewhat technical, look at why securitization is good for you, in that it keeps credit flowing even when bank finance in individual cases is wobby (JoF)