Asymmetric Toaster

Luke and Manny’s class is having a yard sale to benefit UNICEF, but Jay hates when people haggle. In this scene, some guy had gone into Jay’s house, and then tries to buy his toaster. He’s not sure of the quality of the toaster and isn’t willing to commit to purchasing the toaster unless Jay can prove that it works. In markets with asymmetric information, one party of the transaction has more information about the quality of the product compared to the other party. This makes the market for used goods unique from new goods. It turns out, though, that the toaster was never for sale.

See more: asymmetric information, exchange, insurance, market for lemons, used goods, willingness to buy, willingness to sell

Selling a Lemon

Phil is trying to sell the family’s station wagon, but it has some issues that he knows would lower the value of the car. Phil words the advertisement in a way to make the car seem unique instead of defective. Akerlof famously questioned the existence of used markets in his famous Market for Lemons paper.

See more: asymmetric information, lemon, market failure, market for lemons, marketing