An asymmetrical crisis?

The economist Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. Along with George Akerlof and Michael Spence, he worked out a theory of information asymmetry: a situation where both parties in a transaction have different levels of information. Could this theory have some relevance as an explanation of the current financial crisis?

In praise of …..Joseph Stiglitz Guardian (8/10/08)
Stiglitz lecture on financial crisis available online University of Manchester (13/10/08)

Questions

1. Explain what is meant by information asymmetry.
2. Explain how information asymmetry can lead to markets working imperfectly.
3. Discuss the extent to which the theory of information asymmetry may be relevant as a partial determinant of the current financial crisis.