Welcome to Higher Seminar in Economics organised by the Department of Economics, SSE. The seminar speaker is Natalia Fabra, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, presenting "Technology Neutral versus Technology Specific Procurement" (with Juan Pablo Montero). Read the abstract below!

Natalia Fabra is Professor of Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid where she is the Head of EnergyEcoLab.

Natalia works in the field of Industrial Organization, with emphasis on Energy and Environmental Economics, and Regulation and Competition Policy. In 2014, she was awarded with the Sabadell-Herrero Prize for Best Young Spanish Economist.

Abstract

An imperfectly informed regulator needs to procure multiple units of a good that can be produced with heterogeneous technologies at various costs. How should she procure these units? Should she run technology-specific or technology-neutral auctions? Should she allow for partial separation across technologies? Should she instead post separate prices for each technology? What are the trade-offs involved? We find that one size does not fit all: the preferred instrument depends on the nature of the available technologies, the extent of information asymmetry regarding their costs, the costs of public funds, and the degree of market power.