The role of intermediaries in enhancing market efficiency in the Ethiopian grain market
研究了埃塞俄比亚谷物市场中经纪制度对交易者最优搜寻行为及福利的影响，发现经纪人能部分内化搜寻的外部性，提高总福利。
Abstract This paper investigates the impact of the institution of brokerage on the optimal search behaviour and the welfare gains and losses of traders in the Ethiopian grain market. Without brokers, the privately optimal search diverges from the socially optimal search due to the positive spill‐over of individual search behaviour. Numerical analysis using the actual distribution of search costs and search efficiency obtained from primary data collected in Ethiopia reveals that this externality is partially internalised by the presence of brokers and that total welfare increases significantly due to a more efficient allocation of search effort.