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A Note On Bubbles, Worthless Assets, And The Curious Case Of General Motors

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  • Ahn, Tom
  • Sandford, Jeremy
  • Shea, Paul

Abstract

Since the company declared bankruptcy in June 2009, shares of General Motors stock (now known as Motors Liquidation Company) have continued to trade at a high volume while maintaining a market capitalization near $300 million through most of 2010. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that both rational speculators and uninformed investors (often mistaking Motors Liquidation for the new, reorganized GM) have purchased the stock. We develop a theoretical asset-pricing model that includes both types of agents. We present two major results. First, the most frequent state is one where a small fraction of rational agents ensure that the share price behaves as if all agents are rational. A second state exists where all rational agents exit and the share price is inflated. Second, fitting the model to Motors Liquidation, we find evidence of irrational asset pricing for this firm. We find little evidence of similar behavior in the share prices of the thirty stocks that compose the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahn, Tom & Sandford, Jeremy & Shea, Paul, 2014. "A Note On Bubbles, Worthless Assets, And The Curious Case Of General Motors," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 244-254, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:macdyn:v:18:y:2014:i:01:p:244-254_00
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    Cited by:

    1. John Fender, 2020. "Beyond the efficient markets hypothesis: Towards a new paradigm," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 333-351, July.
    2. John Fender, 2015. "Towards a General Theory of the Stock Market," Discussion Papers 15-15, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    3. Nandini Srivastava & Stephen Satchell, 2012. "Are There Bubbles in the Art Market? The Detection of Bubbles when Fair Value is Unobservable," Birkbeck Working Papers in Economics and Finance 1209, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.

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