TY - JOUR AU - Greenwald, Bruce C AU - Stiglitz, Joseph E TI - Information, Finance, and Markets: The Architecture of Allocative Mechanisms JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 3652 PY - 1991 Y2 - March 1991 DO - 10.3386/w3652 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3652 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3652.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Bruce C. Greenwald Columbia University 611 Uris Hall New York, NY 10027 E-Mail: bg7@columbia.edu Joseph E. Stiglitz Uris Hall, Columbia University 3022 Broadway, Room 212 New York, NY 10027 Tel: 212/854-0671 Fax: 212/662-8474 E-Mail: jes322@columbia.edu AB - While bankers and businessmen have long recognized the importance of finance. financial constraints, and financial institutions, they have played a secondary role in neoclassical economic theory. This paper identifies the economic functions with which financial institutions have been concerned, the central problems which they face, and the alternative ways by which those problems can and have been addressed. The importance of limited liability and the legal environment is stressed. The final section explores the relationship between information-based finance constraints, the evolution of the firm, and the growth of the economy. ER -