The crucial role of information

Nowadays world is organized around the concept of financial markets, which are a mechanism that allows people to easily trade. The appearance and development of these markets have given a crucial role to information.

In fact information has become a key tool in the current system. It enables people to get a knowledge of the market and thus to trade efficiently.
Most of time knowledge is not equal; some agents may have more information or maybe different information than the others. These problems of asymmetric and non perfect information may destroy the effectiveness of the market. Such inconveniances have been the origine of substantial researches in economics, like the market of lemons theory. Moreover this year, American economists received the Nobel price regarding their contribution to the establishment of a more efficient market.

Firms and investors are willing to pay huge amounts to get the best information possible. Thus they make a kind of intangible investment, as information is supposed to generate profits in the future. Inormation has become a quite valuable asset.

Another crucial point is the information flows speed. Time is important; those who get information first have a great advantage over the others. Sometimes a difference of only a few seconds can create a gap of millions pounds. As a result, companies need efficient system to spread and find information.