In government procurement auctions of construction contracts, entrants are typically less informed and bid more aggressively than incumbent firms. This bidding behavior makes them more susceptible to losses affecting their prospect of survival. In April of 2000, the Oklahoma Department of...

In many procurement auctions bidders do not know how many rivals they face at the time that they incur the cost of preparing their bids.We show in a theoretical model that regardless of whether the procurement is characterized by private or by common values an increase in the potential number of...

In procurement auctions, there are situations where a bidder's cost is uncertain at the time of bidding, leading to a "winner's curse." We use bridgework data from the State of Oklahoma and an empirical auction model to explore whether the winner's curse also affects entry, which can have...