Most markets clear through a sequence of sales rather than through a Walrasian auctioneer. Because buyers can decide whether to buy now or later, rather than only now or never, their current `willingness to pay' is much more sensitive to price than is the demand curve. In consequence, markets will be extremely sensitive to new information, leading to frenzies where demand feeds upon itself, and crashes where price drops discontinuously. Although no buyer's independent reservation value reveals much about overall demand, a small increase in one such value can cause a large increase or decrease in average price.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
593.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Auctions G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data) G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies
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.:
Riley, John G & Samuelson, William F, 1981.
"Optimal Auctions,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 381-92, June.
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