Cross Regional Comparison of the Efficiency of Public Procurement in Russia
Abstract: The availability of information is an important determinant of the prices in auctions. On the one hand, information affects prices through number of bidders: more bidders lead to lower prices. On the other hand, it could allow them to bid strategically and to increase prices. We show that higher level of information transparency in the region (the amount of information available through public procurement website) leads to lower relative prices on public gasoline market and to decrease in number of bidders at the same time. The main reason is a specific structure of gasoline markets where local monopolists have significantly lower production costs than other participants.
