Financial Intermediaries, Markets, and Growth

Financial Intermediaries and Markets

A complex financial system comprises both financial markets and financial intermediaries. We distinguish financial intermediaries according to whether they issue complete contingent contracts or incomplete contracts. Intermediaries such as banks that issue incomplete contracts, e.g., demand deposits, are subject to runs, but this does not imply a market failure. A sophisticated financial system...

Emerging Markets and Financial Intermediaries

Over the last fifteen years, emerging economies have experienced abrupt changes in bond spreads and large movements in capital flows. We propose a simple general equilibrium model where international investors hire fund managers to invest their capital either in the bonds of an emerging economy or in a riskless asset. We model the emerging economy as a small-open economy subject to an aggregate...

New Special Study of the Securities Markets: Financial Intermediaries

Balance, Growth and Diversity of Financial Markets

A financial market comprising of a certain number of distinct companies is considered, and the following statement is proved: either a specific agent will surely beat the whole market unconditionally in the long run, or (and this “or” is not exclusive) all the capital of the market will accumulate in one company. Thus, absence of any “free unbounded lunches relative to the total capital” opport...

Information Externalities and Intermediaries in Frictional Search Markets Information Externalities and Intermediaries in Frictional Search Markets *

In frictional matching markets with heterogeneous buyers and sellers, sellers incur discrete showing costs to show goods to buyers who incur discrete inspection costs to assess the suitability of the goods on offer. This paper studies how brokers can help reduce these costs by managing the level and mix of goods in their inventory. We find that intermediaries emerge and improve social welfare w...