An overview of laboratory research on conservation auctions

•An overview of the literature to date, including work unpublished at the time of writing.•A framework for organizing the literature and key findings.•Organizes the material as causal factors, intermediate outcome and final outcome effects.•Intermediate outcomes mainly refer to bidder participation and bidding behaviour.•Final outcomes mainly refer to auction performance (several criteria).•Organizes and summarizes key findings to date.•Identifies unresolved problems in need of further research.

This paper reviews the laboratory research on conservation auctions by first suggesting a framework for organizing the literature; then by highlighting the key insights and contributions achieved to date; and thirdly by taking stock of pending questions and unresolved problems. The review framework focuses on the performance of conservation auctions and distinguishes between causal factors and resulting effects. Causal factors include auction format, implementation rules and bidder characteristics, as well as some other aspects. Resulting effects distinguish between intermediate effects, mainly in terms of bidder behaviour, and final auction performance. Rather than a standard literature review, this 'overview' also tries to capture the work that is currently going on and that has not yet been published.