Complex Asset Markets
76 Pages
Posted: 15 Aug 2016
Last revised: 29 May 2017
UCLA Anderson School of Management
Stanford Graduate School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
The University of Hong Kong - School of Economics and Finance
There are 2 versions of this paper
Date Written: May 23, 2017
Abstract
We develop a dynamic equilibrium model of complex asset markets with endogenous entry and exit in which the investment technology of investors with more expertise is subject to less asset-specific risk. The joint equilibrium distribution of financial expertise and wealth then determines risk bearing capacity. Higher expert demand lowers equilibrium required returns, reducing overall participation. In equilibrium, investor participation in more complex asset markets with more asset-specific risk is lower, despite higher market-level Sharpe ratios, provided that asset complexity and expertise are complementary. We analyze how asset complexity affects the stationary wealth distribution of complex asset investors. Because of selection, increased asset complexity reduces wealth concentration, even though the wealth distribution for more expert investors has fatter tails.
Keywords: heterogeneous agent models, industry equilibrium, firm size distribution, segmented markets, limits of arbitrage
Suggested Citation:
Suggested Citation
Eisfeldt, Andrea L. and Lustig, Hanno N. and Zhang, Lei, Complex Asset Markets (May 23, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2821381
