I have always liked the sound of this expression. Deus ex machina makes me think of an almighty god controlling the destiny of mankind in a puppet-like manner. Even when I learned that a deus ex machina is a plot device that provides an external solution to a seemingly unsolvable situation I couldn't help keep that first image in my mind. In fact, the origin of this expression comes from the ancient greek (hence the double title of this post, Apó mēchanēs theós) and literally means "god from the machine". It appears that in Acient Greek dramas tragedeans would use a crane in order to lift an actor playing god and use this character to solve the plot.
The usage of deus ex machina was kept in many plays across time and cultures from the middle ages to 1970's american soap operas, from arab plays to Shakespear. Its usage has also been heavily criticised (its notorious critics range from Socrates to Nietzsche), as it deprives the spectator with crucial information to solve the plot by him/her self, which brings me to the problem of information asymmetries.
Information asymmetries, such as the problem of adverse selection or of moral hazard, arise whenever one party knows (and uses) something that a second party does no know as a mean to take advantage of that second party. Think of George Akerlof's classical example, the used car market, or the "market for lemons" (1970). If you cannot assess the quality of an used car just by looking at it (usually car dealers tend to keep them all pretty neat and shiny), that is, a priori, you will have to trust the seller that you are buying a good car instead of a lemon. You will then pay the same price for the car regardless of it being a good car or a lemon, for you, due to the information asymmetry, cannot clearly assess its quality. However as it is expectable that the owners of lemons will be more likely to sell used cars than others (as they get a lower utility for the car) most cars traded will be lemons. And thus we reach the unhappy end of a no-trade equilibrium to be blamed on an important information asymmetry. Want a solution?
Deus ex Machina!
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