Are There Too Many Safe Securities? Securitization and the Incentives for Information Production

Are There Too Many Safe Securities? Securitization and the Incentives for Information Production. Samuel Hanson, Adi Sunderam, June 2013, Paper. "We present a model that helps explain several past collapses of securitization markets. Originators issue too many informationally insensitive securities in good times, blunting investor incentives to become informed. The resulting scarcity of informed investors exacerbates market collapses in bad times. Inefficiency arises because informed investors are a public good from the perspective of originators. All originators benefit from the presence of additional informed investors in bad times..."