Improvement of procurement auctions’ attractiveness in Russia for foreign companies by preventing opportunistic behavior: Experimental gaming approach

Abstract

The thesis is dedicated to the procurement auctions and opportunistic behavior (collusion and corruption) towards procurer. It researches how auction design influences the behavior of the participants during the auction. It develops a methodology of testing the auction design with the help of experimental gaming. The thesis represents itself an example of applying this methodology by providing game-theoretic models of selected auctions and then by playing them experimentally. Experimental gaming gives an opportunity to observe the behavior of the bidders and to correct the design of the auction according to the observations. Apart from demonstrating and improving the methodology, practical recommendations concerning auction design were provided after the playing of the experiments. These recommendations were made for the organizers of the procurement auctions in order to help to decrease possibility of collusion and corruption during the auctions.