Farmland values and bidder behaviour in first-price land auctions
研究了德国东部土地拍卖中不同竞标者群体（法律实体、租户身份、国籍）之间的潜在不对称性，发现没有证据表明存在显著差异，挑战了拍卖歧视特定买家的观点。
We investigate potential asymmetries among bidders in land auctions that may entail market inefficiencies. Using representative data for eastern Germany including winning bids, bidder characteristics and land amenities, we pursue a structural approach to derive distributions of latent land values for different bidder groups. By applying non-parametric techniques, we cannot find evidence for distinct asymmetries while differentiating between legal entities, tenancy status and nationality of bidders. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that land privatisation via auctions discriminates against certain buyer groups – an argument that is often used to justify stricter regulation of agricultural land markets.