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Snow Removal Auctions in Montreal: Costs, Informational Rents, and Procurement Management

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Author Info
Véronique Flambard (Economics Department, UQAM)
Pierre Lasserre () (Economics Department, UQAM, GREQAM and CIRANO)
Pierre Mohnen () (Economics Department, UQAM and CIRANO)

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Abstract

Using nonparametric estimation techniques adapted from Guerre et al. [2000], we infer cost distributions and informational rents, from 666 snow removal contracts offered for tender by the City of Montreal. Our results are compatible with standard received theory of competitive auctions: there is a positive correlation between costs and bids; rents increase with the variance of costs and decrease with the number of bidders. Bids and costs have decreased over the sample period, while informational rents remained stable. The City deserves credit for these results, as it has succeeded in exploiting economies of scale while maintaining competition.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Université du Québec à Montréal, Département des sciences économiques in its series Cahiers de recherche du Département des sciences économiques, UQAM with number 20-05.

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Length: 41
Date of creation: Feb 2001
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cre:uqamwp:20-05

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Postal: P.O. Box 8888, Downtown Station, Montreal (Canada) Quebec, H3C 3P8
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Related research
Keywords: Procurement auction nonparametric estimation informational rents task design municipal contracts

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Auctions
H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. McAfee, R Preston & McMillan, John, 1987. "Auctions and Bidding," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 699-738, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Emmanuel Guerre & Isabelle Perrigne & Quang Vuong, 2000. "Optimal Nonparametric Estimation of First-Price Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(3), pages 525-574, May.
  3. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Ossard, Herve & Vuong, Quang, 1995. "Econometrics of First-Price Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 953-80, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. ELYAKIME, Bernard & LAFFONT, Jean-Jacques & LOISEL, Patrice & VUONG, Quang, 1993. "First-Price Sealed-Bid Auctions with Secret Reservation Prices," IDEI Working Papers 27, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
  5. Florens, Jean-Pierre & Hugo, Marie-Anne & Richard, Jean-Francois, 1997. "Game theory econometric models: application to procurements in the space industry," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 951-959, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Vuong, Quang, 1993. "Structural econometric analysis of descending auctions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 329-341, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Holt, Charles A, Jr, 1979. "Uncertainty and the Bidding for Incentive Contracts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(4), pages 697-705, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Paarsch, Harry J., 1992. "Deciding between the common and private value paradigms in empirical models of auctions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 191-215. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Powell, James L. & Stoker, Thomas M., 1996. "Optimal bandwidth choice for density-weighted averages," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 291-316, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. R. Preston McAfee & John McMillan, 1986. "Bidding for Contracts: A Principal-Agent Analysis," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(3), pages 326-338, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Mireia Jofre-Bonet & Martin Pesendorfer, 2003. "Estimation of a Dynamic Auction Game," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1443-1489, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Hardle, Wolfgang & Tsybakov, A. B., 1993. "How sensitive are average derivatives?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 31-48, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Guerre, E. & Perrigne, I. & Vuong, Q., 1995. "Nonparametric Estimation of First-Price Auctions," Papers 9504, Southern California - Department of Economics.
  14. Donald, Stephen G & Paarsch, Harry J, 1993. "Piecewise Pseudo-maximum Likelihood Estimation in Empirical Models of Auctions," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(1), pages 121-48, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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