Asymmetric information in bilateral trade and in markets: An inversion result

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Theory
Year: 2012
Volume: 147
Issue: 5
Pages: 1969-1997

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

I consider bilateral trade between a seller and a buyer with private valuations. The seller makes a take-it-or-leave-it price offer. If the seller observes the buyerʼs valuation (symmetric information), bilateral trade is trivially efficient. If the seller cannot observe the valuation (asymmetric information), bilateral trade is inefficient. This bilateral trading game is embedded into a large matching market. In the steady-state equilibrium of the market game, the relation between the informational regime and efficiency is inverted: With small frictions efficiency obtains if information is asymmetric. If information is symmetric, however, the trading outcome can be very inefficient—even if frictions vanish.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:5:p:1969-1997
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25