Illiquidity and Under-Valuation of Firms
Abstract
We study a competitive model in which debt-financed firms may default in some states of nature. Incomplete markets prevent firms from hedging the risk of asset firesales when markets are illiquid. This is the only friction in the model and the only cost of default. The anticipation of such losses alone may distort firms' investment decisions. We characterize the conditions under which competitive equilibria are inefficient and the form the inefficiency takes. We also show that endogenous financial crises may arise as a result of pure sunspot events. Finally, we examine alternative interventions to restore the efficiency of equilibria.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari" in its series Working Papers with number 2008_36.Length: 37
Date of creation: 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2008_36
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Cannaregio, S. Giobbe no 873 , 30121 Venezia
Phone: +39-0412349621
Fax: +39-0412349176
Email:
Web page: http://www.unive.it/dip.economia
More information through EDIRC
Related research
Keywords: illiquid markets; default; incomplete markets; price distortions; inefficient investment;Other versions of this item:
- Douglas Gale & Piero Gottardi, 2009. "Illiquidity and Under-Valuation of Firms," Economics Working Papers ECO2009/38, European University Institute.
- Douglas Gale & Piero Gottardi, 2009. "Illiquidity and Under-Valuation of Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 2900, CESifo Group Munich.
- Piero Gottardi & Douglas Gale, 2009. "Illiquidity and Under-Valuation of Firms," 2009 Meeting Papers 751, Society for Economic Dynamics.
- D5 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium
- D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
- G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
- G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2008-12-01 (All new papers)
- NEP-BEC-2008-12-01 (Business Economics)
- NEP-DGE-2008-12-01 (Dynamic General Equilibrium)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease 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.:
- Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1979.
"A Theory of Competitive Equilibrium in Stock Market Economies,"
Econometrica,
Econometric Society, vol. 47(2), pages 293-329, March.
- Sanford Grossman & Oliver Hart, 1978. "A theory of competitive equilibrium in stock market economies," Special Studies Papers 115, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
- Kehoe, Timothy J & Levine, David K, 1993.
"Debt-Constrained Asset Markets,"
Review of Economic Studies,
Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 865-88, October.
- Timothy J Kehoe & David K Levine, 1993. "Debt Constrained Asset Markets," Levine's Working Paper Archive 1276, David K. Levine.
- Timothy J. Kehoe & David K. Levine, 1992. "Debt constrained asset markets," Working Papers 445, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1976.
"Optimal Financial Crises,"
Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers
97-01, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
- Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1998. "Optimal Financial Crises," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1245-1284, 08.
- Holmstrom, Bengt & Tirole, Jean, 1997.
"Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and the Real Sector,"
The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
MIT Press, vol. 112(3), pages 663-91, August.
- Holmström, Bengt & Tirole, Jean, 1994. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds and the Real Sector," IDEI Working Papers 40, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
- Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1994. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds and the Real Sector," Working papers 95-1, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, .
"A Theory of Bank Capital,"
CRSP working papers
363, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2000. "A Theory of Bank Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2431-2465, December.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1999. "A Theory of Bank Capital," NBER Working Papers 7431, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Pradeep Dubey & John Geanakoplos & Martin Shubik, 2001.
"Default and Punishment in General Equilibrium,"
Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers
1304R5, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Mar 2004.
- Pradeep Dubey & John Geanakoplos & Martin Shubik, 2005. "Default and Punishment in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(1), pages 1-37, 01.
- Pradeep Dubey & John Geanakoplos & Martin Shubik, 2001. "Default and Punishment in General Equilibrium," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1304, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
- P. Dubey & J. Geanakoplos & M . Shubik, 2001. "Default and Punishment in General Equilibrium," Department of Economics Working Papers 01-07, Stony Brook University, Department of Economics.
- Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 2004.
"Financial Intermediaries and Markets,"
Econometrica,
Econometric Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1023-1061, 07.
- Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 2003. "Financial Intermediaries and Markets," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-44, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2003.
"Liquidity Shortages and Banking Crises,"
NBER Working Papers
10071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2005. "Liquidity Shortages and Banking Crises," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 615-647, 04.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Liquidity Shortages and Banking Crises," NBER Working Papers 8937, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Hart, Oliver D, 1979. "On Shareholder Unanimity in Large Stock Market Economies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1057-83, September.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1998.
"Liquidity risk, liquidity creation and financial fragility: a theory of banking,"
Proceedings,
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Sep.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2001. "Liquidity Risk, Liquidity Creation, and Financial Fragility: A Theory of Banking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(2), pages 287-327, April.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, . "Liquidity Risk, Liquidity Creation and Financial Fragility: A Theory of Banking," CRSP working papers 476, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Douglas W. Diamond & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1999. "Liquidity Risk, Liquidity Creation and Financial Fragility: A Theory of Banking," NBER Working Papers 7430, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1992. " Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1343-66, September.
Citations
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2008_36For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Geraldine Ludbrook).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

