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The Effect of Bidder Heterogeneity on Combinatorial Conservation Auction Designs

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  • M. Iftekhar
  • A. Hailu
  • R. Lindner

Abstract

In an iterative combinatorial auction, bidders can submit bids on individual and/or on combinations of projects in a series of intermediate rounds, where bid prices are revised before a final allocation is made. The iterative format is useful for conservation service procurement as landholders can rely on market information revealed through the rounds to evaluate their choices of projects and bid prices. However, there is no single way of providing the market information. Different designs for generating price information have been proposed. Little is known about the performance of iterative combinatorial auction designs when heterogeneous bidders, with different cost structures, participate in an auction. Using an agent based model, we evaluate a selected set of designs under different bidder heterogeneity scenarios. We observe that higher degrees of heterogeneity lead to lower auction efficiency and that auction outcomes are highly sensitive to price feedback design choices. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • M. Iftekhar & A. Hailu & R. Lindner, 2012. "The Effect of Bidder Heterogeneity on Combinatorial Conservation Auction Designs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 53(1), pages 137-157, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:53:y:2012:i:1:p:137-157
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-012-9553-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Scott Duke Kominers & Alexander Teytelboym & Vincent P Crawford, 2017. "An invitation to market design," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 541-571.
    2. Iftekhar, M.S. & Tisdell, J.G. & Connor, J.D., 2013. "Effects of competition on environmental water buyback auctions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 59-73.
    3. Juutinen, Artti & Mäntymaa, Erkki & Ollikainen, Markku, 2013. "Landowners’ conservation motives and the size of information rents in environmental bidding systems," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 128-148.
    4. Iftekhar, Md Sayed & Tisdell, John G., 2015. "Bidding and performance in multiple unit combinatorial fishery quota auctions: Role of information feedbacks," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 233-243.
    5. Le Lan & Md Sayed Iftekhar & James Fogarty & Steven Schilizzi, 2021. "Auctions for buying back groundwater for environmental purposes: Which design performs better?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 931-948, September.
    6. David Evans & Andrew Reeson, 2022. "The Performance of a Repeated Discriminatory Price Auction for Ecosystem Services," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(4), pages 787-806, April.

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