A hedonic price analysis of internet auctions for the BLM's wild horses and Burros

This paper is an analysis of the BLM’s internet auctions for wild horses and Burros from November 2012 through March 2013. This study uses the Hedonic pricing model to determine the magnitude in terms of demand elasticity at which physical characteristics of each horse influences buyers’ decisions to bid for a horse. OLS regressions are run and compared where physical characteristics of wild horses and burros are the independent variables and the winning bid price of horses is the dependent variable. The most statistically significant physical characteristics from the most appropriate OLS regression model are identified for the purpose of increasing the public adoption rates.The highly desirable physical qualities of wild horses and burros are identified to be the proximity of a bidder to sale location, horses that are captured out of BLM’s holding facility, a horse that is a mare or stallion, a colored horse and a horse with a unique quality such as pinto. Sterilization of horses in the BLM’s holding facility is a significant way of increasing public adoption rates and controlling the population of wild horses