Do you know enough?

Do you ever feel that your doctor, bank manager or even your spouse is not telling you the whole story, and probably knows more than they’re letting on? They probably are. It’s a phenomenon called asymmetric information. Studies state that most economic transactions involve some form of asymmetry or ‘information failure’. However, can this concept also apply to everyday relationships? Gulf News tried to analyse whether the concept of information asymmetry can be applied to a variety of social relationships, outside the economic realm.