Asymmetric information (不对称信息)

Asymmetric information (信息不对称 xìn xī bù duì chèn) refers to a situation of unequal knowledge where one party is well informed in comparison to another. One of the problems caused by asymmetric information is adverse selection.

Part 1: Breakdown of Words

• “信息” (xìn xī) as in “information technology” (信息技术 xìn xī jì shù), or “information age” (信息时代 xìn xī shí dài). 
• “不” (bù) as in “wrong” (不对 bù duì), “cannot” (不能 bù néng), or “not only” (不只有 bù zhǐ yǒu).
• The term asymmetric (不对称 bù duì chèn) is the antonym of symmetric. “不” (bù).  in Chinese phrases is often equal to the prefixes “non-” or “a-“. Another common “Chinese prefixes” with a similar meaning is “非” (fēi). 
• “对称” (duì chèn) as in  “symmetric distribution” (对称分布 duì chèn fēn bù), symmetric matrix (对称矩阵 duìchèn jǔzhèn), or “axial symmetric” (轴对称 zhóu duì chèn).