The recent financial crisis has highlighted the importance of adverse selection as a contributing factor to financial market instability. In this article, the author examines the phenomenon of adverse selection and explains how its presence in a particular market can lead to market freezes and liquidity hoarding. She also describes several mechanisms that can propagate the initially small effect of adverse selection to the entire financial system. Possible policy responses and their effectiveness are also discussed.
: Financial stability; Financial system regulation and policies; Market structure and pricingWe survey several key mechanisms that explain the composition of international capital flows: foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment and debt flows (bank loans and bonds). In particular, we focus on the following market frictions: asymmetric information in capital markets and exposure to liquidity shocks.
: International topicsThis paper studies the interaction between adverse selection, liquidity risk and beliefs about systemic risk in determining market liquidity, asset prices and welfare. Even a small amount of adverse selection in the asset market can lead to fire-sale pricing and possibly to a market breakdown if it is accompanied by a flight-to-liquidity, a misassessment of systemic risk, or uncertainty about asset values.
: Financial Institutions; Financial markets; Financial stability
