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Field Before After
Trial Title Dynamic Reserve Prices in Procurement: An Experiment The Design of Recurrent Procurement Auctions
Trial End Date March 31, 2024 December 31, 2026
Last Published October 17, 2023 01:54 PM March 13, 2025 10:10 AM
Intervention (Public) Our intervention in procurement auction markets involves settting a dynamic reserve price based on outcomes from a previous round. Specifically, we will use the winning bid in the previous period to set the maximum bid possible for bidders in the next round. Two variants will be investigated. The first involves a single auction market, and the second uses a multi market setting. In the first variant, a market's bid cap is determined by the winning bid in that market from the previous round, while the second variant uses another market's winning bid in the previous round. Our intervention in procurement auction markets involves settting a dynamic reserve price based on outcomes from a previous round. Specifically, we will use the winning bid in the previous period to set the maximum bid possible for bidders in the next round. Two variants will be investigated. The first involves a single auction market, and the second uses a multi market setting. In the first variant, a market's bid cap is determined by the winning bid in that market from the previous round, while the second variant uses another market's winning bid in the previous round.
Intervention End Date November 30, 2023 May 30, 2025
Experimental Design (Public) The experiment requires three treatments using the low price sealed bid mechanism: one without a dynamic reserve price, one using a dynamic reserve price in a single market, and the third, using a dynamic reserve price with multiple markets. Using a between-subjects design, each participant is exposed to only one of the three conditions and plays multi-round auctions. In round 1 of each sequence, everyone is told their realized cost and everyone participates. In each subsequent round, participants are told their realized cost for that round and will be allowed to choose whether or not to participate in the auction for that round. If they choose not to participate in a round, they will not be able to participate for the remaining rounds in that sequence, but they will be able to rejoin in the subsequent sequence. After deciding to participate, the participants are informed of the number of competitors who are participating. Each competitor will have received a realized cost using the same method with all draws being independent. The experiment requires four treatments using the low price sealed bid mechanism: one without a dynamic reserve price, one using a dynamic reserve price in a single market, the third using a dynamic reserve price with multiple markets, and the fourth without a bid cap splitting the award between the two lowest bidders. Using a between-subjects design, each participant is exposed to only one of the three conditions and plays multi-round auctions. In round 1 of each sequence, everyone is told their realized cost and everyone participates. In each subsequent round, participants are told their realized cost for that round and will be allowed to choose whether or not to participate in the auction for that round. If they choose not to participate in a round, they will not be able to participate for the remaining rounds in that sequence, but they will be able to rejoin in the subsequent sequence. After deciding to participate, the participants are informed of the number of competitors who are participating. Each competitor will have received a realized cost using the same method with all draws being independent.
Planned Number of Clusters 72 groups 96 groups
Planned Number of Observations 10,800 bids 14,400 bids
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Irbs

Field Before After
IRB Name University of East Anglia School of Economics Research (ECO S-REC)Ethics Subcommittee
IRB Approval Date October 16, 2023
IRB Approval Number ETH2324-0451(amendments)
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Field Before After
IRB Name University of East Anglia School of Economics Research (ECO S-REC)Ethics Subcommittee
IRB Approval Date March 13, 2025
IRB Approval Number ETH2425-1779
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Other Primary Investigators

Field Before After
Affiliation University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy Loughborough University
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