Auctions for Infrastructure Concessions with Demand Uncertainty and Unknown Costs

Gustavo Nombela () and Ginés de Rus

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Auction mechanisms commonly used in practice for awarding infrastructure concession contracts induce a bias towards the selection of concessionaires who are optimistic about demand, but are not necessarily cost-efficient. This helps to explain the frequent renegotiation of concessions observed in practice. This paper shows that the fixed-term nature of contracts is the key element for selection errors, and it proposes a better alternative mechanism based on flexible-term contracts. This new auction mechanism reduces the probability of selection errors and contract renegotiation, and it is simple enough to constitute a good option for concessions in sectors like transport and public utilities.

Keywords: concessions; auctions; renegotiation; infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D44 L91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:12023

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