Costly Information Acquisition, Social Networks, and Asset Prices: Experimental Evidence
通过实验研究信息网络如何影响投资者获取昂贵信息的动机、市场流动性、投资者收益及资产价格特征，发现社交沟通会因搭便车行为减少信息生产，但能提升交易量和流动性，却未能改善价格信息含量。
ABSTRACT We design an experiment to study the implications of information networks for incentives to acquire costly information, market liquidity, investors' earnings, and asset price characteristics in a financial market. Social communication crowds out information production as a result of an agent's temptation to free ride on the signals purchased by her neighbors. Although information exchange among traders increases trading volume, improves liquidity, and enhances the ability of asset prices to reflect the available information in the market, it fails to improve price informativeness. Net earnings and social welfare are higher with information sharing due to reduced acquisition of costly signals.