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Bidding for the unemployed: An application of mechanism design to welfare-to-work programs

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  • Onderstal, Sander

Abstract

This paper applies the theory of mechanism design to welfare-to-work programs. When procuring welfare-to-work projects to employment service providers, governments face the problems of adverse selection (the winning provider is not the most efficient one) and moral hazard (the winning provider shirks in its responsibility to reintegrate unemployed people). We compare the constant-reward second-price auction with the socially optimal mechanism and show that the auction generates social welfare that is close to the optimal mechanism, while requiring less information and weaker commitment.

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  • Onderstal, Sander, 2009. "Bidding for the unemployed: An application of mechanism design to welfare-to-work programs," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 715-722, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:53:y:2009:i:6:p:715-722
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    Cited by:

    1. Koning, Pierre & van de Meerendonk, Arthur, 2014. "The impact of scoring weights on price and quality outcomes: An application to the procurement of Welfare-to-Work contracts," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Emiel Maasland & Sander Onderstal, 2006. "Going, Going, Gone! A Swift Tour of Auction Theory and its Applications," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 197-249, June.
    3. Xinyu Li & Marco Haan & Sander Onderstal & Jasper Veldman, 2023. "A Wind Tunnel Test of Wind Farm Auctions," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-046/VII, Tinbergen Institute.

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