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Limelight on dark markets: theory and experimental evidence on liquidity and information

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  • Aleksander Berentsen
  • Michael McBride
  • Guillaume Rocheteau

Abstract

We investigate how informational frictions affect trading in decentralized markets in theory and in a laboratory setting. Subjects, matched pairwise at random, trade divisible commodities that have different private values for a divisible asset with a common value (interpreted as money). We compare a bargaining game with complete information with a bargaining game where agents can produce fraudulent assets at some cost and are privately informed about the quality of their assets. The threat of fraud strongly reduces the subjects' ability to exploit the gains from trade, it reduces significantly both the size of the trade and the acceptability of the asset, but only a small fraction of all assets are actually fraudulent.

Suggested Citation

  • Aleksander Berentsen & Michael McBride & Guillaume Rocheteau, 2013. "Limelight on dark markets: theory and experimental evidence on liquidity and information," ECON - Working Papers 126, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Apr 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:econwp:126
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    4. Jiang, Janet Hua & Puzzello, Daniela & Zhang, Cathy, 2023. "Inflation, Output, and Welfare in the Laboratory," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Davis, Douglas & Korenok, Oleg & Norman, Peter & Sultanum, Bruno & Wright, Randall, 2022. "Playing with money," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1221-1239.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liquidity; money; information; experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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