This paper examines federal auctions for drain age leases on the Outer Continental Shelf from 1959 to 1969. These are leases that are adjacent to tracts on which a deposit has been discovered. The authors find that the data strongly support the hypotheses that neighbor firms are better informed...

The authors analyze a first-price, sealed bid auction of an object with unknown common value, but one buyer has better information. The reservation price is correlated with the informed buyer's assessment of the value and of the probability of rejection. If all random variables are affiliated,...

This paper examines federal auctions for leases on the Outer Continental Shelf in the light of the predictions of the first-price, sealed-bid, common-values model of auctions. The authors find that the data strongly support the model for auctions in which one bidder is better informed than the...

This paper documents exploratory drilling activity on offshore wildcat oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico sold between 1954 and 1980. The authors calculate the empirical drilling hazard function for cohorts in specific areas. For each year of the lease, they study the determinants of the...

This paper describes the U.S. offshore oil and gas lease sales conducted by the Department of the Interior since 1954. Several decision variables are discussed, including bidding for leases, the government's decision whether to accept the highest bid, the incidence and timing of exploratory...