This paper models how imperfect memory affects the optimal continuity of policies. We examine the choices of a player (individual or firm) who observes previous actions but cannot remember the rationale for these actions. In a stable environment, the player optimally responds to memory loss with...

We model side payments in a competitive credit-card market. If competitive retailers charge a single (higher) price to cover the cost of accepting cards, banks must subsidize convenience users to prevent them from defecting to merchants who do not accept cards. The side payment will be financed...

The focus of this study is on black markets which provide an important segment of the parallel economy. These markets operate in disequilibrium,search and information costs become very important.Trafficking in drugs taken as case, to explore both theoretically and empirically. The problem,...

To secure their membership in a popular group, individuals may contribute more to the group’s local public good than they would if group formation were exogenous. Those in the most unpopular group do not have this incentive to contribute to their group. Substantial differences in individual...

We develop a parsimonious general equilibrium model where agents allocate time across three activities: production, trade, and leisure. Leisure includes time spent socializing, which economizes transaction costs. Our framework yields multiple equilibria in terms of the number of social ties and...

Models with event risk (the possibility of sudden large price movements) have proven important for option pricing (e.g., Bates (1996))and optimal portfolio selection (e.g., Liu, Longstaff and Pan(2003)). However, most of the existing studies ignore transaction costs which are prevalent in almost...

Contrary to the prediction of standard portfolio diversification theory, most investors place a large fraction of their stock investment in a small number of stocks. We show that underdiversification may be caused by risk control. The key assumption is that investors are portfolio insurers who...

Conflicts of interest between insiders (e.g, controlling shareholders) and outsiders (e.g., minority shareholders) are central to the analysis of modern corporation. In an integrated continuous-time contingent claims framework with imperfect corporate governance, we examine a controlling...

We study strategies of credit card companies. Due to lack of the ability to observe consumer types credit card companies under competition resort to aggressive strategies, oversupplying the credit card market. A sample and a population shift cause increase in credit risk, but credit card...