The development and spread of financial innovations
金融创新的发展与扩散
I study financial product innovation in a model with two classes of agents: “sophisticated” and “unsophisticated.” Unsophisticated agents are hit with frictions that lower the return to a conventional asset they hold. Sophisticated agents construct financial innovations that are perfect substitutes for the conventional asset, but are not subject to the friction. In the absence of complete information, unsophisticated agents learn about innovations through a contagion…