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Procurement with Specialized Firms

Author

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  • Boone, J.

    (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research)

  • Schottmuller, C.

    (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research)

Abstract

This paper analyzes optimal procurement mechanisms in a setting where the procurement agency has incomplete information concerning the firms' cost functions and cares about quality as well as price. Low type firms are cheaper than high type firms in providing low quality but more expensive when providing high quality. Hence, each type is specialized in a certain quality level. We show that this specialization leads to a bunching of types on profits, i.e. a range of firms with different cost functions receives zero profits and therefore no informational rents. If first best welfare is monotone in the efficiency parameter, the optimal mechanism can be implemented by a simple auction. If first best welfare is U-shaped in type, the optimal mechanism is not efficient in the sense that types providing a lower second best welfare win against types providing a higher second best welfare.
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Suggested Citation

  • Boone, J. & Schottmuller, C., 2011. "Procurement with Specialized Firms," Discussion Paper 2011-131, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:tiu:tiucen:b29ce133-fabe-4e17-b811-3c6107660cda
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yeon-Koo Che, 1993. "Design Competition through Multidimensional Auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(4), pages 668-680, Winter.
    2. Ganuza, Juan-Jose & Pechlivanos, Lambros, 2000. "Heterogeneity-promoting optimal procurement," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 105-112, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Danau & Annalisa Vinella, 2017. "Contractual design in agency problems with non-monotonic cost and correlated information," SERIES 02-2017, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Mar 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    procurement; specialization; deregulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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