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1、22,Frontiers of Microeconomics,ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION,A difference in access to relevant knowledge is called information asymmetry.,Hidden Actions: Principals, Agents, and Moral Hazard,Moral HazardMoral hazard refers to the tendency of a person who is imperfectly monitored to engage in dishonest or
2、otherwise undesirable behavior.Employers can respond to the moral-hazard problem in various ways:Better monitoring.High wages.Delayed payment.,Hidden Actions: Principals, Agents, and Moral Hazard,Moral HazardAn agent is a person who is performing an act for another person, called the principal.The p
3、rincipal is a person for whom another person, called the agent, is performing some act.,Hidden Actions: Principals, Agents, and Moral Hazard,Adverse SelectionAdverse selection refers to the tendency for the mix of unobserved attributes to become undesirable from the standpoint of an uniformed party.
4、,Hidden Actions: Principals, Agents, and Moral Hazard,Example of Adverse Selection:Many time potential buyers may not even consider used cars because they surmise that the sellers know something bad about the cars. This is also known as the lemons problem. InsurancePeople with hidden health problems
5、 are more likely to want to buy health insurance than those with good healthIn certain labor markets, if a firm reduces the wage it pays, high productivity workers tend to quit.,Signaling to Convey Private Information,How do Markets respond to Asymmetric Information?SignalingSignaling refers to an a
6、ction taken by an informed party to reveal private information to an uninformed party.ScreeningScreening occurs when an action taken by an uniformed party induces an informed party to reveal information.,Asymmetric Information and Markets,The study of asymmetric information gives us new reason to be
7、 wary of markets.,Asymmetric Information and Public Policy,When some people know more than others do, the market may fail to put the resources to their best uses.,Asymmetric Information and Public Policy,Although asymmetric information may call for government action, three facts complicate the issue
8、:Private markets can sometimes deal with information asymmetries on their ownThe government rarely has more information than the private parties.The government itself is an imperfect institution,POLITICAL ECONOMY,Political economy (public choice ) is the application of economic methods to the study
9、of how government works.,POLITICAL ECONOMY,Problems Associated with How Government Determines Public PolicyThe Condorcet ParadoxArrows Impossibility TheoremThe Median-Voter TheoremSelf-interested Politicians,The Condorcet Voting Paradox,Third choice,Second choice,First choice,Percent of electorate,T
10、ype 3,Type 2,Type 1,Voter Type,The Condorcet Voting Paradox,The Condorcet Paradox occurs when the majority rule fails to produce transitive preferences for society.Transitive preferences imply that if A is preferred to B, and B is preferred to C, then A is preferred to C.,Arrows Impossibility Theore
11、m,Arrows impossibility theorem is a mathematical result which shows that, under certain conditions, there is no scheme for aggregating individual preferences into a valid set of social preferences.,Arrows Impossibility Theorem,No Voting System Can Satisfy All of the FollowingUnanimityTransitivityInd
12、ependence of irrelevant alternativesNo dictators,Median Voter Theorem,The median voter theorem is a mathematical result that shows that if voters are choosing a point along a line and each voter wants the point closest to his most preferred point, then majority rule will pick the most preferred poin
13、t of the median voter.,BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS,Recently, a field called behavioral economics has emerged in which economists make use of basic psychological insights to examine economic problems.,Politicians Are People Too,Some politicians are motivated by self-interest.Some politicians sacrifice the n
14、ational interest to solidify their base of voters.,BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS,People arent always rational:People are overconfidentPeople give too much weight to a small number of vivid observationsPeople are reluctant to change their minds.People care about fairness as demonstrated by the ultimatum gameP
15、eople are inconsistent over time.,Summary,In many economic transactions, information is asymmetric. When there are hidden actions, principals may be concerned that agents suffer from the problem of moral hazard. When there are hidden characteristics, buyers may be concerned about the problems of adv
16、erse selection among sellers. Private markets sometimes deal with asymmetric information with signaling and screening.,Summary,Although government policy can sometimes improve market outcomes, governments are themselves imperfect institutions. The Condorcet paradox shows that majority rule may fail to produce transitive preferences for society. Arrows impossibility theorem shows that no voting scheme will be perfect.In many situations, democratic institutions will produce the outcome desired by the median voter, regardless of the preferences of the rest of the electorate.,
