No abstract

We develop a nonparametric approach that allows one to discriminate among alternative models of entry in …rst-price auctions. Three models of entry are considered: Levin and Smith (1994), Samuelson (1985), and a new model in which the information received at the entry stage is imperfectly correlated with valuations. We derive testable restrictions that these three models impose on the quantiles of active bidders' valuations, and develop nonparametric tests of these restrictions. We implement the tests on a dataset of highway procurement auctions in Oklahoma. Depending on the project size, we …nd no support for the Samuelson model, some support for the Levin and Smith model, and somewhat more support for the new model.

Consider a decentralized, dynamic market with an infinite horizon and participation costs in which both buyers and sellers have private information concerning their values for the indivisible traded good. Time is discrete, each period has length δ, and each unit of time continuums of new buyers and sellers consider entry. Traders whose expected utility is negative choose not to enter. Within a period each buyer is matched anonymously with a seller and each seller is matched with zero, one, or more buyers. Every seller runs a first price auction with a reservation price and, if trade occurs, both the seller and winning buyer exit the market with their realized utility. Traders who fail to trade continue in the market to be rematched. We characterize the steady-state equilibria that satisfy a subgame perfection criterion. We show that, as δ converges to zero, equilibrium prices at which trades occur converge to the Walrasian price and the realized allocations converge to the competitive allocation. We also show existence of equilibria for δ sufficiently small.