Financial liquidity refers to the ability to complete a transaction in a timely fashion without cost. The concept applies in many different contexts and scopes and is one important way to characterize financial markets and the goods that trade in them. Any departure from the conditions stated above is termed illiquidity. Illiquidity imposes costs, and prospectively these costs constitute a risk. An important question in financial economics is whether and how this risk is priced. - See more at: http://www.casact.org/liquidity/#sthash.GAIagCFl.dpuf
This paper is based on a commissioned research study by the Casualty Actuarial Society with a focus on a theoretical framework for a liquidity risk premium and the interaction of illiquidity with credit effects on the valuation of assets and liabilities. The problem addressed is the development of a theory of liability valuation distinct from a theory of asset pricing or valuation. Our proposed solution is to formulate a risk theory for two price economies when markets fail to converge to the law of one price.