Comparing Open and Sealed Bid Auctions: Theory and Evidence from Timber Auctions

We study entry and bidding patterns in sealed bid and open auctions with heterogeneous bidders. Using data from U.S. Forest Service timber auctions, we document a set of systematic effects of auction format: sealed bid auctions attract more small bidders, shift the allocation towards these bidders, and can also generate higher revenue. We propose a model, which extends the theory of private value auctions with heterogeneous bidders to capture participation decisions, that can account for these qualitative effects of auction format. We then calibrate the model using parameters estimated from the data and show that the model can explain the quantitative effects as well. Finally, we use the model to provide an assessment of bidder competitiveness, which has important consequences for auction choice.Auctions, Timber

Comparing Open and Sealed Bid Auctions: Evidence from Timber Auctions

We study entry and bidding patterns in sealed bid and open auctions with heterogeneous bidders. Using data from U.S. Forest Service timber auctions, we document a set of systematic effects of auction format: sealed bid auctions attract more small bidders, shift the allocation towards these bidders, and can also generate higher revenue. We show that a private value auction model with endogenous participation can account for these qualitative effects of auction format. We estimate the model's parameters and show that it can explain the quantitative effects as well. Finally, we use the model to provide an assessment of bidder competitiveness, which has important consequences for auction choice.Open Auction, Sealed Bid Auction

Entry regulation and business start-ups : evidence from Mexico

The authors estimate the effect on business start-ups of a program that significantly speeds up firm registration procedures. The program was implemented in Mexico in different municipalities at different dates. Authors estimates suggest that new start-ups increased by about 4 percent in eligible industries, and the authors present evidence that this is a causal effect. Most of the effect is temporary, concentrated in the first 10 months after implementation. The effect is robust to several specifications of the benchmark control group time trends. The authors find that the program was more effective in municipalities with less corruption and cheaper additional procedures.Corporate Law,Microfinance,Regional Governance,Urban Governance and Management,Urban Partnerships&Poverty

Who are the unbanked ?

This paper uses nationally representative survey data from Mexico to compare households with savings accounts in formal financial institutions to their neighbors who do not have such accounts. The survey,which was conducted in 2005, contains information on nearly 5,000 households. The findings show that although neighboring banked and unbanked households have similar demographic and occupational profiles, the former are more educated and have markedly greater wealth. The median banked household spends 32 percent more per capita than the median unbanked household, and the median per capita wealth in banked households is 88 percent higher than that in unbanked households. The findings suggest that education levels, wealth, and unobserved household attributes that might be correlated with wealth and education play a major role in explaining who is banked.Access to Finance,,Banks&Banking Reform,Emerging Markets,Debt Markets

Assortative matching of exporters and importers

This paper uses the opening of the US textile/apparel market for China at the end of the Multifibre Arrangement in 2005 as a natural experiment to provide evidence for positive assortative matching of Mexican exporting firms and US importing firms by their capability. We identify three findings for liberalized products by comparing them to other textile/apparel products: (1) US importers switched their Mexican partners to those making greater preshock exports, whereas Mexican exporters switched their US partners to those making fewer preshock imports; (2) for firms who switched partners, trade volume of the old partners and the new partners are positively correlated; (3) small Mexican exporters stop exporting. We develop a model combining Becker-type matching of final producers and suppliers with the standard Melitz-type model to show that these findings are consistent with positive assortative matching but not with negative assortative matching or purely random matching. The model indicates that the findings are evidence for a new mechanism of gain from trade

Comparing Open and Sealed Bid Auctions: Evidence from Timber Auctions

We study entry and bidding patterns in sealed bid and open auctions with heterogeneous bidders. Using data from U.S. Forest Service timber auctions, we document a set of systematic effects of auction format: sealed bid auctions attract more small bidders, shift the allocation towards these bidders, and can also generate higher revenue. We show that a private value auction model with endogenous participation can account for these qualitative effects of auction format. We estimate the model's parameters and show that it can explain the quantitative effects as well. Finally, we use the model to provide an assessment of bidder competitiveness, which has important consequences for auction choice.

On the distributive costs of drug-related homicides

This is the first paper to study the economic effects of drug-trafficking organization violence. We exploit the manyfold increase in homicides in 2008-2011 in Mexico resulting from its war on organized drug traffickers to estimate the effect of drug-related homicides on house prices. We use an unusually rich dataset that provides national coverage on house prices and homicides and exploit within-municipality variations. We find that the impact of violence on housing prices is borne entirely by the poor sectors of the population. An increase in homicides equivalent to one standard deviation leads to a 3% decrease in the price of low-income housing. In spite of this large burden on the poor, the willingness to pay in order to reverse the increase in drug-related crime is not high. We estimate it to be approximately 0.1%of Mexico’s GDP.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS

On the Distributive Costs of Drug-Related Homicides

There are few reliable estimates of the effects of violence on economic outcomes. This study exploits the manifold increase in homicides in 2008-2011 in Mexico resulting from its war on organized drug traffickers to estimate the effect of drug-related homicides on housing prices. Using an unusually rich dataset that provides national coverage on housing prices and homicides and exploits within-municipality variation, the study finds that the burden of violence affects only the poor. An increase in homicides equivalent to one standard deviation leads to a 3 percent decrease in low-income housing prices. Moreover, the effect on housing prices of long-term increases in crime is 40 percent larger.

A Multiple Interventions Approach to Increasing Technology Adoption: Evidence from Mexico

The title of the project was: "A Multiple Interventions Approach to Increasing Technology Adoption: Evidence from Mexico.