Liquidity and capital under uncertainty and changing market sentiment: A simple analysis

This study introduces a general approach to investigate resource allocation and asset prices in an economy with uncertainty and shifts in market sentiment. The approach presents a number of key features: first, it proposes a choice-theoretic model that determines the utility that the agents derive from holding assets with different liquidity. Second, it incorporates a variable (endogenously-determined) cost structure of asset liquidation, which reflects the (in)efficiencies of the financial infrastructure and changes in market moods. Third, it also incorporates a model of expectations formation under uncertainty and changing market sentiment. While rich in structure, the approach offers a simple analytical framework to investigate resource allocation decision and asset price dynamics under various sources of uncertainty, and to explore the micro-economics of speculative bubbles and boom–bust sequences. The use of a possible market-specific prudential policy tool is discussed.