Opacity and Liquidity
47 Pages Posted: 2 Nov 2013 Last revised: 7 Dec 2014
Date Written: December 07, 2014
Abstract
We present a model that links the opacity of an asset to its liquidity. While low opacity assets are liquid, intermediate levels of opacity provide incentives for investors to acquire private information, causing adverse selection and illiquidity. High opacity, however, benefits liquidity by reducing the value of a unit of private information to investors. The cross-section of bid-ask spreads of U.S. firms is shown to be consistent with this hump-shape relationship between opacity and illiquidity. The analysis suggests that uniform disclosure requirements may not be desirable; optimal information provision can be achieved by subsidizing information. The model also delivers predictions about when it is optimal for asset originators to sell intransparent products or pools composed of correlated assets.
Keywords: endogenous information acquisition, opacity, asset liquidity
JEL Classification: G14, D82, G18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation