Identification of the distribution of valuations in an incomplete model of English auctions

Published on 29 June 2015

An incomplete model of English auctions with symmetric independent private values, similar to the one studied in Haile and Tamer (2003), is shown to fall in the class of Generalized Instrumental Variable Models introduced in Chesher and Rosen (2014). A characterization of the sharp identified set for the distribution of valuations is thereby obtained and shown to refine the bounds available until now.

An incomplete model of English auctions with symmetric independent private values, similar to the one studied in Haile and Tamer (2003), is shown to fall in the class of Generalized Instrumental Variable Models introduced in Chesher and Rosen (2014). A characterization of the sharp identified set for the distribution of valuations is thereby obtained and shown to refine the bounds available until now.

Authors

Andrew Chesher

Research Fellow University College London

Andrew is the Director of the ESRC Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (cemmap) and Professor of Economics and Economic Measurement at UCL.

Adam Rosen

Research Fellow Duke University

Adam is a Research Fellow associated with the Cemmap at the IFS and UCL and an Associate Professor of Economics at Duke University.