}Knowing information
◦Perfect, imperfect and asymmetric information
}Knowing the behaviour of the others and rules
◦Imperfect
◦Incomplete
}Searching and consequences
}Information about price and quality
}Auction models
}

Information gap
* Subjects on the opposite sides of the market have a different information about the subject of
exchange
* Seller has better information about the car
* The insurance company must trust in its clients responsibility
* Information gap is the difference between two subjects on the market
* Is positive – if the subject knows the information
* Is negative – if the subject does not know the information

Information gap
* Moral hazard – effect when the activity of one subject decreases the utility of the second
subject concurrently with information gap on side of the second subject
* Information gap is not stable
* Examples
* Try to find an example of the information gap you have met

How to fit information gap?
* Filling the gap
* By distribution of the information?
* Removal of subject‘s disadvantage, based on nascence of particular information
* Subject must be willing to invest to filling of the gap
* The first condition is to identify the gap
* The filling is the function of time
* Questions
* How will the subject fill the gap?
* Can the gap be filled by itself?

Filling the information gap
* Absolute
* The information are distributed from one side to the other
*  Example
* Register of insured persons
lTo know a history of new client
* Register of debtors
lTo eliminate to risky clients
* Subjects facing negative gaps can join even if they are competitors

Filling the information gap
* Relative
* If there is no way how to get the information
* Example
lBankrupt of travel agency
lThe client has no power nor possibility to find the information
lMandatory insurance of travel agency
lThe client does not need to take care about travel agency finance
lMandatory car insurance
* Relative filling is the eliminating of the gap’s influence

More general attitude to information gaps
* Direct methods of filling
* If the aim is particular information gap
* Indirect
* The aim is more general
* To prevent the creation of information gap
* To solve whole problem

Indirect method to fill the gaps
* Source of information
* Subject that provide the knowledge or information
* The way of transfer of the information
* Primary source
* Author of information
* No changes on the character of information
* Secondary source
* Information is transformed
* Information channel
* If more sources of information join to use the same way of transfer

Using the information channel
* Random consumption of information
* Using secondary sources
* TV news, information servers, social networks
* Subject do not search anything specific
* Just they need to be informed
* The need to share information
* The question of trust to the secondary source

Internet
* What is internet?
* Information channel
* Subject has to know what is he searching for to use it properly
* Ideal platform to find the market equilibrium

Role of IT
* IT is a tool to:
* fill the gap – to distribute information
* To eliminate the gap – using IT services to interconnect subject with negative effects of a gap
* Manage the information
* To prevent the influence of the gaps
* To eliminate the gaps

The price of information
* Is almost individual
* It is equal to the searching (opportunity) costs
* It is important to divide the price of information and the price of access to information
* To buy the possibility to search
* To buy a possibility to share information
* The question of technology
* Higher speed means higher probability to find what I am looking for

Technology progress
speed
costs
T
T2
N
A
B

Government and information
* It needs the information for making of the decisions
* It is important source of information
* It is supervisor on the market with information

Government as the information receiver
* The most of analysis is done by
* state institutions
* ministry clerks
* National bank
* The government is the source of information for itself
* The analysis can be wrong
* The decisions can be wrong – moral hazard
* The question of time

The government and searching of information
* Where is the equilibrium of searching
* Stigler model does not work
* The process of searching is excluded from the process of evaluating and using of the information
* The person who is searching does not know the effect
* We can not be sure that the government has right information
* We can not be sure the information are correct
* Moral hazard
* The Greece

The government as the source of information
* The government is not one source of information
* The motivation of the clerks
* To publish only the information that are good for them
* Moral hazard
* The subjects need the information from other source to prove it

The government regulates the market of information
* Direct approach
* Problem of the identification of information gap
* Absolute filling
* How to do it
* Law – market subject must give some information to the register
* Relative filling
* Not necessary to identify a specific problem, just a group of problems
* Mandatory insurance

The government regulates the market of information
* Indirect approach
* Development of information sources and channels
* Support of using services
* Data mail-boxes
* Digital signature
* E-government
* Supporting the development of the information access

Conclusion
* Information gap
* Filling the information gap
* Information source
* Information channel
* Role of government
* Role of IT