We develop a nonparametric approach that allows for discrimination among alternative models of entry in first-price auctions. Three models of entry are considered: those of Levin and Smith (1994), Samuelson (1985), and a new model in which the information received at the entry stage is...

This article aims to estimate the informational rents earned by winning bidders in oil and gas exploration and production auctions in Brazil. We estimate the distributions of bids and bidders' private valuations using a nonparametric structural model and assuming independence and asymmetry...

This paper proposes a nonparametric test of exogenous participation in first-price auctions. Exogenous participation means that the valuation distribution does not depend on the number of bidders. Our test is motivated by the fact that two valuation distributions are the same if and only if...

We consider an asymmetric auction setting with two bidders such that the valuation of each bidder has a binary support. We prove that in this context the second price auction yields a higher expected revenue than the first price auction for a broad set of parameter values, although the opposite...

In this paper, we propose a new approach to analyzing asymmetric first price auctions. Specifically, we examine winning probabilities, exploiting the connection between winning probabilities and payoffs known from mechanism design. This circumvents the need to look directly at bidding...

We consider an asymmetric auction setting with two bidders such that the valuation of each bidder has a binary support. We prove that in this context the second price auction yields a higher expected revenue than the first price auction for a broad set of parameter values, although the opposite...

We provide new tools for studying asymmetric first price auctions, connecting their equilibria to the ρ-concavity of the underlying type distributions, and showing how one can use surplus expressions for symmetric auctions to bound equilibrium behavior in asymmetric auctions. We apply these...

Within the independent private-values paradigm, we demonstrate nonparametric identification of Dutch and first-price, sealed-bid auction models when bidders are asymmetric. We also demonstrate that, in the presence of a binding reserve price, methods for estimating the distribution of valuations...

The existence of cartels, collusion and heterogeneity across firms is known to introduce some asymmetry in bidding games. A major difficulty when considering asymmetric auctions is that the equilibrium strategies are solutions of an intractable system of differential equations. This paper...