Evaluation of public offerings the COVID-19 pandemic period incapital markets within the framework of behavioraleconomics with event study method: The example of BorsaIstanbul in Türkiye

While the COVID-19 pandemic affected the whole world, the results that emerged during its period are still the subject of research. In this process, which is accepted as a crisis affecting financial and economic markets in the world, public offering activities in financial markets have been the main subject of this thesis. Accordingly, in this study, it is aimed to examine the performance and investor behaviour of the firms offered to public in Borsa Istanbul (BIST) before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of behavioural economics examined with event study method. The findings show that there are significant differences between the event window 5th, 30th and 60th day return values in the years before, during and after the pandemic. These differences reveal that each year has its own unique dynamics and investor behaviour is affected by these dynamics. Although the pandemic period is a period of increased uncertainty and risk, investors have turned towards investments that have the potential to generate higher returns during this period. This shows that investors' risk perception has changed, and they aim to achieve higher returns by taking higher risks.