Information and Prices with Capacity Constraints

In the theoretical literature on consumer search, one conclusion is nearly universal: as buyers become better able to observe and compare prices ex ante, sellers will set lower prices in equilibrium. In this paper, I examine a standard consumer search model with one small -- yet often relevant -- additional restriction: I assume that sellers are capacity constrained. In this environment, I illustrate that the conventional wisdom regarding information and prices does not necessarily hold: having more informed consumers can lead to a decrease in prices, have no effect at all, or even lead to an increase in prices.

Trading dynamics in decentralized markets with adverse selection

The authors study a dynamic, decentralized lemons market with one-time entry and characterize its set of non-stationary equilibria. This framework offers a theory of how a market suffering from adverse selection recovers over time endogenously; given an initial fraction of lemons, the model provides sharp predictions about how prices and the composition of assets evolve over time. Comparing economies in which the initial fraction of lemons varies, the authors study the relationship between the severity of the lemons problem and market liquidity. They use this framework to understand how asymmetric information contributed to the breakdown in trade of asset-backed securities during the recent financial crisis, and to evaluate the efficacy of one policy that was implemented in attempt to restore liquidity.Liquidity (Economics) ; Trade

Competing with asking prices

In many markets, sellers advertise their good with an asking price. This is a price at which the seller will take his good off the market and trade immediately, though it is understood that a buyer can submit an offer below the asking price and that this offer may be accepted if the seller receives no better offers. Despite their prevalence in a variety of real world markets, asking prices have received little attention in the academic literature. We construct an environment with a few simple, realistic ingredients and demonstrate that using an asking price is optimal: it is the pricing mechanism that maximizes sellers’ revenues and it implements the efficient outcome in equilibrium. We provide a complete characterization of this equilibrium and use it to explore the positive implications of this pricing mechanism for transaction prices and allocations.Ludo Visschers gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Juan de la Cierva Grant; project grant ECO2010- 20614 (Dirección general de investigación científica y técnica), and the Bank of Spain’s Programa de Investigación de Excelencia

Information, Liquidity, Asset Prices and Monetary Policy, Second Version

What determines which assets are used in transactions? We develop a framework where the extent to which assets are recognizable determines the extent to which they are acceptable in exchange - i.e., their liquidity. We analyze the effects of monetary policy on asset markets. Recognizability and liquidity are endogenized by allowing agents to invest in information. There can be multiple equilibria with different transaction patterns. These transaction patterns are not invariant to policy. We show small changes in information that may generate large responses in prices, allocations and welfare. We also discuss issues in international economics, including exchange rates and dollarization.Money, Asset Pricing, Liquidity

Fuzzy Jets

Collimated streams of particles produced in high energy physics experiments are organized using clustering algorithms to form jets. To construct jets, the experimental collaborations based at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) primarily use agglomerative hierarchical clustering schemes known as sequential recombination. We propose a new class of algorithms for clustering jets that use infrared and collinear safe mixture models. These new algorithms, known as fuzzy jets, are clustered using maximum likelihood techniques and can dynamically determine various properties of jets like their size. We show that the fuzzy jet size adds additional information to conventional jet tagging variables. Furthermore, we study the impact of pileup and show that with some slight modifications to the algorithm, fuzzy jets can be stable up to high pileup interaction multiplicities

Non-maximum entropy polymer elasticity, viscoelasticity and the lattice Boltzmann method

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-303).Various models of viscoelasticity exist based on continuum mechanics. In this work a statistical mechanical approach is taken to derive a new isotropic, hyperelastic, viscoelastic, incompressible constitutive equation for polymers. The result has been achieved by generating a novel physics for the microscopic behaviour of polymers. A vocabulary has been created to facilitate the physics. A new differential equation describing polymer behaviour is derived based on the mathematical description of the physics

Legislative Overview: The Florida Workers\u27 Compensation Act, 1979

The innovative, unprecendented changes in the Florida Workers\u27 Compensation Act have focused national attention on the state\u27s compensation reform efforts