Econometrics of first-price auctions with entry and binding reservation prices

This paper considers the structural analysis of first-price auctions with entry and binding reservation prices. The presence of entry decisions and binding reservation prices complicates the structural analysis. Building on the recent theoretical work on entry in auctions, this paper assumes that each potential bidder first decides whether or not to incur an entry cost and become an active bidder using a symmetric mixed strategy. Then each active bidder bids optimally following the increasing Nash-Bayesian equilibrium strategy. Using the observed bids and the number of actual bidders, we propose an MSM estimator to estimate the parameters in the distribution of private values and the distribution of the number of active bidders. Our approach can be used to validate the theoretical auction model, to test whether the reservation prices are binding, and to test the mixed-strategy of entry. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.