The Holdout Problem and Urban
Sprawl:
Experimental Evidence
John Cadigan
Gettysburg College
Pamela Schmitt
U. S. Naval Academy
Robert Shupp
Michigan State University
Kurtis Swope
U. S. Naval Academy
Abstract
Conventional wisdom
as well
as economic theory suggests it is more costly to reassemble fragmented
land due
to transactions costs and strategic bargaining costs. Both costs are
expected
to increase with the number of sellers. Inefficient
allocation of land resources may
result including property entropy (Parisi 2002), urban sprawl (Miceli
and Sirmans 2007) and deteriorating inner
cities.
Given the difficulty of observing actual values attached by buyers and
sellers
to land, little empirical evidence exists to support the conventional
wisdom
and theoretical work. We use experimental methods to examine
transactions costs
and strategic bargaining costs in a land-assembly market game with one
buyer,
one to four sellers, and complementary exchanges. The
buyer’s final earnings vary inversely with
the number of sellers, ceteris paribus,
indicating an incentive to purchase consolidated land. Delay costs
reduce
holdout, but result in lower payoffs for both buyers and sellers.
Competition
between sellers reduces holdout and the buyer’s total purchase price.