Endowment Effect
The tendency to value something more highly simply because one owns it.
How it is identified
Test: the price demanded to sell an item exceeds the price the same person would pay to buy it
Unit
qualitative
In depth
Experimental work finds that ownership alone, established minutes earlier, raises the valuation people place on an item — the classic mug studies found sellers demanding roughly twice what buyers offered. In investing it makes portfolio holdings feel more attractive than equivalent unowned alternatives, which is why portfolios ossify and rebalancing feels wrong. It is closely related to loss aversion, since giving up what one has is coded as a loss. The countermeasure is the blank-sheet test: if the portfolio were liquidated to cash today, which of these positions would be bought back at today's prices.
Worked example
Asked whether to buy a holding at today's price, an investor says no. Asked whether to sell it, they also say no. The two answers are inconsistent, and ownership is the only thing separating them.
Illustrative figures, chosen so the arithmetic is easy to follow. Not a live price and not a valuation of any company.
Educational reference only
This entry explains what “Endowment Effect” means. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any numbers above are illustrative, not live prices, and nothing here predicts price direction or rates a stock. Consider your own circumstances and consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser before acting.