The market for state-sponsored private pension schemes in Germany ("Riester-Rente") is not transparent. This article explains why the problem of asymmetric information, which disadvantages consumers, needs governmental regulation as the problems cannot be resolved by the market. A survey shows...

If a regulator is unable to measure firms’ individual emissions, an ambient tax can be used to achieve the socially desired level of pollution. With this tax, each firm pays a unit tax on aggregate emissions. In order for the tax to be effective,firms must recognize that their decisions...

Non-strategic firms with rational expectations make investment and emissions decisions. The investment rule depends on firms’ beliefs about future emissions policies. We compare emissions taxes and quotas when the (strategic) regulator and (nonstrategic) firms have asymmetric information...

We study a dynamic regulation model where firms’ actions contribute to a stock externality. The regulator and firms have asymmetric information about serially correlated abatement costs. With price-based policies such as taxes, or if firms trade quotas efficiently, the regulator learns...

This paper investigates the role of learning by private agents and the central bank (two-sided learning) in a New Keynesian framework in which both sides of the economy have asymmetric and imperfect knowledge about the true data generating process. We assume that all agents employ the data that...

A simple theory is developed which formally describes how charities can resolve the information asymmetry problems faced by small donors by working with large donors to generate quality signals. To test the model, two large-scale natural field experiments were conducted. In the first experiment,...

In this paper we analyze asymmetric information in the (private) disability insurance, which has not been analyzed before in the literature, but covers one of the most important risks faced by individuals in modern society, namely the loss of human capital. We show that there is asymmetric...

Efficient information exchanges between sellers and buyers are essential if prices are to act as a signal for resource allocation in an economy. In the case of seed and planting materials, information on quality traits are often difficult for consumers (farmers) to obtain prior to purchase,...

The role of adverse selection in schemes for the procurement of ecosystem services has been investigated by many who suggest that efficiency of these schemes is impaired by problems arising from adverse selection. However recent research on the UK Environmental Stewardship Scheme suggests that...

It has bee suggested by many authors that adverse selection in government schemes for the procurement of ecosystem services impairs both the efficiency of these schemes and the value for money that they deliver to taxpayers and funding agencies. However, recent research considers that these...