Asymptotics for a Symmetric Equation in Price Formation

We study the existence and asymptotics for large time of the solutions to a one dimensional evolution equation with non-standard right-hand side. The right-hand side involves the derivative of the solution computed at a given point. Existence is proven through a fixed point argument. When the problem is considered in a bounded interval, it is shown that the solution decays exponentially to the stationary state. This problem is a particular case of a mean-field free boundary model proposed by Lasry and Lions on price formation and dynamic equilibria. Maria P. Gualdani is supported by the NSF Grant DMS-0807636.