James D. Dana, Jr. & Kathryn E. Spier, Designing a Private Industry: Government Auctions with Endogenous Market Structure, 53 J. Pub. Econ. 127 (1994).
Abstract: This paper considers government mechanisms for auctioning production rights in which both the winners and the market structure, doupoly (dual-sourcing), monopoly (sole-sourcing), or government-owned production, are a function of the bids. In designing the optimal mechanism, the government considers the tradeoffs among consumer surplus, producer surplus, and revenue. Under incomplete information, doupoly is implemented less frequently, and government production more frequently, than under complete information. When bidders are symmetric, the optimal mechanism can be implemented as a modified second-price auction. Applications to privatization, deregulation, and defense procurement are discussed.