Middlemen, inventories and economic dynamics

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gu, Chao; Wang, Lu; Wright, Randall
• 署名单位: University of Missouri System; University of Missouri Columbia; University of Western Australia; Zhejiang University; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2025.106113
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: search equilibrium; money; liquidity; MODEL; STABILITY; MARKETS; cycles

摘要

We study dynamics in frictional markets with intermediated trade, where middlemen can buy goods or assets from sellers, hold them as inventory, and sell when contacting appropriate buyers. Importantly, buyers have heterogeneous match-specific valuations, letting us characterize equilibrium in terms of reservation trading strategies (related papers with homogeneous valuations imply bang-bang solutions that are awkward for the economics and mathematics). Using bifurcation theory, we show there are equilibria where market participation, volume, prices, liquidity and other variables fluctuate as self-fulfilling prophecies. The dynamics emerge from strategic considerations, not mechanical assumptions, like increasing returns or other such devices in related models.