Jürgen Eichberger () (University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics) Willy Spanjers () (Kingston University, School of Economics)
Abstract
We study the impact of ambiguity on two alternative institutions of financial intermediation in an economy where consumers face uncertain liquidity needs. The ambiguity the consumers experience is modeled by the degree of confidence in their additive beliefs. We analyze the optimal liquidity allocation and two institutional settings for implementing this allocation: a secondary asset market and a bank deposit contract. For full confidence we obtain the well-known result that consumers prefer the bank deposit contract over the asset market, since the former can provide the optimal cross subsidy for consumers with high liquidity needs. With increasing ambiguity this preference will be reversed: the asset market is preferred, since it avoids inefficient liquidation if the bank reserve holdings turn out to be suboptimal.
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Paper provided by University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number
0444.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1998.
"Optimal Financial Crises,"
Journal of Finance,
American Finance Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1245-1284, 08.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
V.V. Chari & Ravi Jagannathan, 1984.
"Banking Panics,"
Discussion Papers
618, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
[Downloadable!]