| 简介： | In the procurement of a project with variable quality, corruption via quality manipulation arises when the agent tasked with evaluating project quality is bribed to exaggerate the quality score of a corrupt firm. We study how the buyer adjusts the procurement scheme under the threat of quality manipulation. In addition to the classical trade-off between efficiency and information rent, deterrence of corruption by the inefficient firm plays a key role in the optimal mechanism design. We show that, instead of under-reporting, as would be observed under a second-best mechanism without corruption, the buyer may overstate her preference for quality. Moreover, the buyer may be better off because the efficient firm’s rent is eroded by corruption. Comparing two popular procurement schemes, the dominance of scoring auctions over minimum quality auctions reported in the literature does not hold under quality manipulation. |