Symmetry Breakings in Models with Pure or Almost Pure Individual Risks

This paper investigates the existence of asymmetric equilibria in a pure exchange economy with individual risks. The model is an extension of Malinvaud's (1973). Agents face identical pure individual risks: their endowments and utility functions only depend on their individual state; but there exists one good for which some aggregate component of the risk is introduced through endowments: individual risks are "almost pure". Agents are described by totally symmetric characteristics but can come out of the exchange process with asymmetric allocations: there might be unequal treatment of equal agents by the markets. The present paper shows the generic existence of (a lot of) asymmetric equilibria. In addition, it gives robust examples of both existence and non-existence of asymmetric equilibria in Malinvaud's (1973) original formulation with "pure" individual risks