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Valuation, Adverse Selection, and Market Collapses

Michael J. Fishman1; Jonathan A. Parker2

1 Northwestern University · 2 Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology

Review of Financial Studies 2015 open access

We study a market for funding real investment where valuation—meaning investors devoting resources to acquiring information about future payoffs—creates an adverse selection problem. Unlike previous models, more valuation is associated with lower market prices and so greater returns to valuation. This strategic complementarity in the capacity to do valuation generates multiple equilibria. With multiple equilibria, the equilibrium without valuation is most efficient despite funding some unprofitable investments. Switches to valuation equilibria, valuation runs, look like credit crunches. A large investor can ensure the efficient equilibrium only if it can precommit to a price and potentially, only if subsidized.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/hhv025
Volume
28 (9)
Pages
2575-2607
Language
en
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