was part of an optional luncheon session. Second, 37 people were recruited by Purdue
University Extension educators to attend one of five sessions in various regions of Indiana. An
average of seven farmers came to each session, which took place at a local restaurant or at the
county building. To encourage farmer participation, the farmers were given a free lunch for their
participation.
Data collection proceeded in three stages. Participants first completed a written survey,
then participated in a willingness-to-accept auction to give up an endowed candy bar, and finally,
bids in the non-hypothetical financial records auction were collected. The survey collected
information on the individuals, their farms, and their farm records. Once respondents completed
the survey, they read instructions for the second price candy bar auction. The candy bar auction
was used to introduce the mechanism to participants so as to increase understanding. Each
participant was endowed with a name brand candy bar and subjects bid, in a second price
auction, to sell their candy bar back to the monitor. The lowest bidder won the auction and was
paid the second lowest bid amount for their candy bar.
After the candy bar auction, participants were informed of the chance to sell their
financial records in a second price auction similar to the one they had previously participated in.
The farmers then completed an inventory sheet identifying the type and quality of records they
possessed. For example, subjects were asked whether they maintained a balance sheet, statement
of cash flows, income statement, statement of owner’s equity, checkbook register, and tax
records. For each item listed, farmers were asked if they prepared the item listed, how many of
the past five years have they prepared the item, and if the item’s form was handwritten or
electronic.