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Identification and estimation of risk aversion in first-price auctions with unobserved auction heterogeneity

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  • Grundl, Serafin
  • Zhu, Yu

Abstract

This paper shows point-identification in first-price auctions with risk aversion and unobserved auction heterogeneity, by exploiting multiple bids per auction and variation in the number of bidders. If the exclusion restriction required for point-identification is violated, the recovered primitives are still valid bounds under weaker restrictions. We propose a Sieve Maximum Likelihood Estimator (SMLE). Monte Carlo experiments illustrate that the estimator performs well and that ignoring unobserved auction heterogeneity can bias risk aversion estimates. In an application to timber auctions we find that the bidders are risk-neutral, but we would reject risk-neutrality without accounting for unobserved auction heterogeneity.

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  • Grundl, Serafin & Zhu, Yu, 2019. "Identification and estimation of risk aversion in first-price auctions with unobserved auction heterogeneity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 363-378.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:econom:v:210:y:2019:i:2:p:363-378
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2019.02.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Jun, Sung Jae & Zincenko, Federico, 2022. "Testing for risk aversion in first-price sealed-bid auctions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 226(2), pages 295-320.
    2. Emmanuel Guerre & Yao Luo, 2019. "Nonparametric Identification of First-Price Auction with Unobserved Competition: A Density Discontinuity Framework," Papers 1908.05476, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    3. JoonHwan Cho & Yao Luo & Ruli Xiao, 2022. "Deconvolution from Two Order Statistics," Working Papers tecipa-739, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    4. Kim, Dong-Hyuk & Ratan, Anmol, 2022. "Disentangling risk aversion and loss aversion in first-price auctions: An empirical approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Vasserman, Shoshana & Watt, Mitchell, 2021. "Risk aversion and auction design: Theoretical and empirical evidence," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    First-price auction; Unobserved heterogeneity; Risk aversion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C57 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Econometrics of Games and Auctions
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions

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