In this paper we survey the theoretical and empirical literatures on market liquidity. We organize both literatures around three basic questions: (a) how to measure illiquidity, (b) how illiquidity relates to underlying market imperfections and other asset characteristics, and (c) how...

Rational expectation equilibrium (REE) models were considerably developed over the past 40 years. However, still relatively little has been done on their empirical applications, private signals being unobservable. We propose a new methodology, theoretically premised, to reconstitute these...

We document a robust positive relationship between the belief dispersion about macroeconomic conditions among household investors and the stock market trading volume, using more than 30 years of household survey data and a novel approach to measuring belief dispersions. Notably, such a...

We develop a new method to estimate private equity funds' market beta from cash flows. Our methodology extends the widely known public market equivalent calculation to a cross-sectional regression. By simply regressing funds' internal rates of return on their paired market internal rates of...

The asymmetry in price pressure from seller vs. buyer-initiated transactions is identified as valuable measure of downside liquidity for corporate bonds. While the evidence of illiquidity on risk premium in the cross-section of corporate bonds is mixed, the aggregate liquidity asymmetry has a...

In this paper, we attempt to assess the potential importance of different types of traders (i.e., those with public and private information) in financial markets using a specification of the standardized duration. This approach allows us to test unobserved heterogeneity in a nonlinear version...

If investors are differently informed about the payoff of market-traded securities, then the traditional market portfolio is not a relevant benchmark for testing the CAPM. Each investor appraises expected returns and builds his optimal portfolio conditionally on his information. Which proxy to...

In this paper, the interactions between a large informed trader (IT, for short) and a high-frequency trader (HFT, for short) who can anticipate the former's incoming order are studied in an extended Kyle's model. Equilibria under various specific situations are discussed. We find that, in...

We present a model of excess volatility based on speculation and equilibrium multiplicity. Each trader has two distinct motives to trade: (i) speculation based on noisy signals, and (ii) hedging against endowment shocks. The key to equilibrium multiplicity is the self-fulfilling nature of...

Insurance markets are characterized by profound market imperfections. Insurance intermediaries reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries. From transaction cost economics, agency theory, and law and economics literature the hypothesis is derived that insurance brokers may provide more...