Adverse Selection with Heterogeneously Informed Agents

S. Mohammad R. Davoodalhosseini

Staff Working Papers from Bank of Canada

Abstract: A model of over-the-counter markets is proposed. Some asset buyers are informed in that they can identify high quality assets. Heterogeneous sellers with private information choose what type of buyers they want to trade with. When the measure of informed buyers is low, there exists a unique and stable equilibrium, and interestingly, price, trading volume and welfare typically decrease with more informed buyers. When the measure of informed buyers is intermediate, multiple equilibria arise, and price, trading volume and welfare may decrease or increase with more informed buyers, depending on the equilibrium being played. A switch from one equilibrium to another can lead to large drops in liquidity, price, trading volume and welfare, like a financial crisis. The measure of informed buyers is then endogenized by allowing buyers to invest in a technology that enables them to identify high quality assets. In this case, the model features endogenous strategic complementarity in acquiring the information technology. Multiple equilibria still exist, with different measures of informed buyers, but a scheme of tax/subsidy on information acquisition sometimes leads to the unique equilibrium.

Keywords: Economic models; Financial markets; Financial stability; Financial system regulation and policies; Market structure and pricing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D40 D82 D83 G01 G10 G20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mic and nep-mst
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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