This thesis consists of three chapters, each with implications on information and trading patterns in financial markets. Chapter 1: In most financial markets, dealers are given trading advantages meant to encourage liquidity provision. However, it is unclear if these advantages truly induce such...

Much has been written about the problem of consumer credit in the United States over the past decade. In this paper, we survey the prevailing economic theories of consumer credit, which identify a common root problem. Namely, consumers can potentially underestimate borrowing costs, and lenders...

Regulatory proposals for protecting consumers in the mortgage markets typically focus on making sure dangerous products are eliminated and consumers make informed product-choice decisions. These are intended to address consumers' product-choice mistakes. But there is another class of mistakes...

We examine the welfare effects of regulation in a model where firms can shroud add-on costs, such as penalty fees for consumer financial products. In isolation, imposing price controls or disclosure mandates on such fees can increase or decrease welfare, even when these regulations have no...

Much has been written about the state of U.S. consumer credit market. In this Article, we provide an overview of the scholarship in this area and an interim diagnosis of the market failure. We identify the chief problem as various epistemic failures on the consumers' part, which lead to poor...

A number of behavioral finance theories posit that investors adhere to their existing beliefs in spite of new information. This paper reports the results of an investment experiment which shows that subjects' inferences are biased by their prior beliefs in a manner that depends on investment...