We study trade between an informed seller and an uninformed buyer who have existing inventories of assets similar to those being traded. We show that these inventories could induce the buyer to increase the price (a run-up) but could also make trade impossible (a freeze) and hamper information...

When contracts are unobserved (and nonexclusive), agents can promise the same asset to multiple counterparties and subsequently default. I show that a central mechanism can extract all relevant information about contracts that agents enter by inducing them to report one another. The mechanism...