American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Liquidity Sentiments
American Economic Review
(pp. 3813–48)
Abstract
We develop a rational theory of liquidity sentiments in which the market outcome in any given period depends on agents' expectations about market conditions in future periods. Our theory is based on the interaction between adverse selection and resale considerations giving rise to an intertemporal coordination problem that yields multiple self-fulfilling equilibria. We construct "sentiment" equilibria in which sunspots generate fluctuations in prices, volume, and welfare, all of which are positively correlated. The intertemporal nature of the coordination problem disciplines the set of possible sentiment dynamics. In particular, sentiments must be sufficiently persistent and transitions must be stochastic. We consider an extension with production in which asset quality is endogenously determined and provide conditions under which sentiments are a necessary feature of any equilibrium. A testable implication is that assets produced in good times are of lower average quality than those produced in bad times.Citation
Asriyan, Vladimir, William Fuchs, and Brett Green. 2019. "Liquidity Sentiments." American Economic Review 109 (11): 3813–48. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180998Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D82 Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
- D84 Expectations; Speculations
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- E44 Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
- G12 Equities; Fixed Income Securities