The Social Cost of Near-Rational Investment

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2017
Volume: 107
Issue: 4
Pages: 1059-1103

Authors (2)

Tarek A. Hassan (Boston University) Thomas M. Mertens (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

We show that the stock market may fail to aggregate information even if it appears to be efficient, and that the resulting decrease in the information content of prices may drastically reduce welfare. We solve a macroeconomic model in which information about fundamentals is dispersed and households make small, correlated errors when forming expectations about future productivity. As information aggregates in the market, these errors amplify and crowd out the information content of stock prices. When prices reflect less information, the conditional variance of stock returns rises, causing an increase in uncertainty and costly distortions in consumption, capital accumulation, and labor supply.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:4:p:1059-1103
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25