Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/33567 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 1655
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In markets with imperfect information and heterogeneity, the information technology affects the rate at which agents meet, which in turn affects the distribution of production technologies across firms. We show that in models for such markets there are typically multiple equilibria because reservation utility levels and the lowest production technology in use affect each other. The adoption of novel information technologies may then entail a revolution in the sense of a move from an inefficient to an efficient equilibrium. Inefficient production technologies are removed even in sectors where the new information technology has only recently been introduced. The effect is much larger than a marginal comparative-statics effect on a given equilibrium. The results apply to markets for consumer products, labor, intermediate goods, and (public) institutional services,
Subjects: 
imperfect information
heterogeneity
production technology
informational frictions
JEL: 
D43
D83
L11
L15
O33
J42
L86
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
306.28 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.