We propose a parsimonious model of bilateral trade under asymmetric information to shed light on the prevalence of intermediation chains that stand between buyers and sellers in many decentralized markets. Our model features a classic problem in economics where an agent uses his market power to...

We characterize optimal voluntary disclosures by a privately informed agent facing a counterparty endowed with market power in a bilateral transaction. Although disclosures reveal some of the agent's private information, they may increase his information rents by mitigating the counterparty's...

Decentralized markets attract large amounts of trade volume, even though they exhibit frictions absent in centralized exchanges. We develop a model with asymmetric information and expertise acquisition where some traders try to exploit any market structure to inefficiently screen their...