Editing Availability heuristic (section)

===Business and economy===
One study sought to analyze the role of the availability heuristic in financial markets. Researchers defined and tested two aspects of the availability heuristic:<ref name="kliger">{{Cite journal |last1=Kliger |first1=Doron |last2=Kudryavtsev |first2=Andrey |year=2010 |title=The Availability Heuristic and Investors' Reaction to Company-Specific Events |journal=Journal of Behavioral Finance |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=50–65 |doi=10.1080/15427561003591116 |issn=1542-7560 |s2cid=154727453}}</ref>

* Outcome Availability&nbsp;– availability of positive and negative investment outcomes, and
* Risk Availability&nbsp;– availability of [[financial risk]].<ref name="kliger" />

On days of substantial [[stock market]] moves, abnormal stock price reactions to upgrades are weaker, than those to downgrades. These availability effects are still significant even after controlling for event-specific and company-specific factors.<ref name="kliger" />

Similarly, research has pointed out that under the availability heuristic, humans are not reliable because they assess probabilities by giving more weight to current or easily recalled information instead of processing all relevant information. Since information regarding the current state of the economy is readily available, researchers attempted to expose the properties of business cycles to predict the availability bias in analysts' growth forecasts. They showed the availability heuristic to play a role in analysis of forecasts and influence investments because of this.<ref name="LeeO">{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Byunghwan |last2=O'Brien |first2=John |last3=Sivaramakrishnan |first3=K. |year=2008 |title=An Analysis of Financial Analysts' Optimism in Long-term Growth Forecasts |journal=Journal of Behavioral Finance |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=171–184 |doi=10.1080/15427560802341889 |issn=1542-7560 |s2cid=154169718}}</ref>

In effect, investors are using the availability heuristic to make decisions and subsequently, may be obstructing their own investment success. An investor's lingering perceptions of a dire market environment may be causing them to view investment opportunities through an overly negative lens, making it less appealing to consider taking on investment risk, no matter how small the returns on perceived "safe" investments.  To illustrate, [[Franklin Templeton]]'s annual Global Investor Sentiment Survey 1 asked individuals how they believed the [[S&P 500 Index]] performed in 2009, 2010, and 2011. 66 percent of respondents stated that they believed the market was either flat or down in 2009, 48 percent said the same about 2010 and 53 percent also said the same about 2011.  In reality, the S&P 500 saw 26.5 percent annual returns in 2009, 15.1 percent annual returns in 2010, and 2.1 percent annual returns in 2011, meaning lingering perceptions based on dramatic, painful events are impacting decision-making even when those events are over.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 6, 2012 |title=Investors Should Beware The Role of 'Availability Bias' |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/the-availability-bias-is-driving-investor-decisions-2012-10 |access-date=December 1, 2013 |website=Business Insider}}</ref>

Additionally, a study by Hayibor and Wasieleski found that the availability of others who believe that a particular act is morally acceptable is positively related to others' perceptions of the morality of that act. This suggests that availability heuristic also has an effect on [[ethical]] [[decision making]] and ethical behavior in organizations.<ref name="HayiborWasieleski2008">{{Cite journal |last1=Hayibor |first1=Sefa |last2=Wasieleski |first2=David M. |year=2008 |title=Effects of the Use of the Availability Heuristic on Ethical Decision-Making in Organizations |journal=Journal of Business Ethics |volume=84 |issue=S1 |pages=151–165 |doi=10.1007/s10551-008-9690-7 |issn=0167-4544 |s2cid=144947312}}</ref>