Learn how asymmetric information impacts economic transactions and can lead to market failures like moral hazard and adverse selection.

Information asymmetry is a term that gets used a lot in economics. It means that one party in a transaction has more information or better information than the other party—a common occurrence. The ...

This week “The Economist explains” blog is given over to economics. For six days until Saturday this blog will publish a short explainer on one seminal economics idea. MARKETS frequently present ...

Noah Smith is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.