We study trading in over-the-counter (OTC) markets where agents have heterogeneous and private valuations for assets. We develop a quantitative model in which assets are issued through a primary market and then traded in a secondary OTC market. Then we use data on the US municipal bond market to...

To mitigate adverse selection in insurance markets, individuals are often mandated to buy at least a baseline plan, but may choose to opt into a premium plan. In some markets, such as US health exchanges, each plan is responsible for the full expenses of those who buy it (“total pricing”)....

This paper studies the design of procurement, where a buyer seeks to award a contract to a single supplier. The model incorporates the costs of bidding and the costs of evaluating proposals for the buyer. These information costs are a contribution to the literature and are weighted against the...

This paper examines the welfare effects of informational intermediation. A (shortlived) seller sets the price of a product that is sold through a (long-lived) informational intermediary. The intermediary can disclose information about the product to consumers, earns a fixed percentage of the...

Followers of law, politics and business commonly relate stories of individuals who appear to predict an expected self-performance level below what they believe likely. Candidates, attorneys and firms sometimes seem to under-predict their own capacities. Insofar as individuals typically construct...

In November 2012, RF Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdiukov, accused of abetting corruption in his ministry, was sacked from office; former Deputy Minister of Regional Development was arrested; criminal proceedings against the managers of Rostelekom and the former top officials of the RF Ministry of...

This paper develops a dynamic life-cycle equilibrium model of crime with hetero-geneous agents and human capital accumulation. Agents decide at each point in time whether to commit crimes by comparing potential gains from crime to the expected cost of punishment (determined from the probability...