Attention utility is the hedonic pleasure or pain derived purely from paying attention to information, and is distinct from the 'news utility' that arises from gaining new information. Using data on brokerage account logins by individual investors, we show that individuals devote...

Attention utility is the hedonic pleasure or pain derived purely from paying attention to information. Using data on brokerage account logins by individual investors, we show that individuals devote disproportionate attention to already-known positive information about the performance of...