We find an effect of irrelevant information on adverse selection in a laboratory signaling game. This effect occurs via two channels: the principal is more (less) likely to adversely reject signals from “good” (“bad”) types. The findings suggest that “perception (or perhaps,...

The identification of information problems in different markets is challenging issue in the economic literature. In this paper, we study the identification of moral hazard from adverse selection and learning within the context of a multi-period dynamic model. We extend the model of Abbring et...

The share of off-balance sheet activity (OBSa) in the future of banking business has been questioned by the use of low-quality assets in this activity. Nevertheless, this paper puts forward the adverse selection hypothesis, which counter argues that more stable banks engage in OBSa to a larger...

I study the impact of capital market imperfections on the exercise of a real option. An entrepreneur has private information about a venture for which she seeks outside funding. An initial investment gives access to a continuous flow of information about the project. The duration of that...

The subprime crisis would never have occurred had investors not been such enthusiastic consumers of subprime securities. The investors now say, somewhat self-servingly (but probably correctly), that they did not understand the securities - securities for which they were willing to pay very high...

We consider a model of on-the-job search where firms offer long-term wage contracts to workers of different ability. Firms do not observe worker ability upon hiring but learn it gradually over time. With sufficiently strong information frictions, low-wage firms offer separating contracts and...

We empirically study how the underlying riskiness of the pool of home equity line of credit originations is affected over the credit cycle. Drawing from the largest existing database of U.S. home equity lines of credit, we use county-level aggregates of these loans to estimate panel regressions...

Shows equilibrium always exists (Rothschild-Stiglitz-Wilson model) when firms enforce policy exclusivity via strategic (profit-maximizing) communication of client purchases. Strategic communication induces two equilibrium types: partial communication of purchase information or non-communication...

We argue that there exists a problem of adverse selection in the provision of advertising which makes it impossible to establish direct markets for it. The media is regarded as an intermediary that can channel advertising and allocate it efficiently by screening consumers. This role of media may...

Credit contracting between a lender with monopoly market power and a small start-up entrepreneur may lead to the rejection of projects whose expected benefits are higher than their total costs. This inefficiency may be eliminated by government support in the form of credit guarantees or interest...