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On the analysis of asymmetric first price auctions

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  • Mares, Vlad
  • Swinkels, Jeroen M.

Abstract

We provide new tools for studying asymmetric first price auctions, connecting their equilibria to the ρ-concavity of the underlying type distributions, and showing how one can use surplus expressions for symmetric auctions to bound equilibrium behavior in asymmetric auctions. We apply these tools to studying procurement auctions in which, as is common in practice, one seller is given an advantage, reflecting for example better reliability or quality. We show conditions under which for any given first price handicap auction, there exists a superior second price auction with bonuses.

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  • Mares, Vlad & Swinkels, Jeroen M., 2014. "On the analysis of asymmetric first price auctions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:152:y:2014:i:c:p:1-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2014.03.010
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    3. De Chiara, Alessandro, 2015. "Holding an Auction for the Wrong Project," MPRA Paper 72108, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Apr 2015.
    4. Chaturvedi, Aadhaar, 2015. "Procurement auctions with capacity constrained suppliers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 247(3), pages 987-995.
    5. Damian R. Beil & Qi (George) Chen & Izak Duenyas & Brendan D. See, 2018. "When to Deploy Test Auctions in Sourcing," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 232-248, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asymmetric auctions; Request for proposal; Differentiation; Mechanism design; First price auctions; Second price auctions; Procurement; Rho-concavity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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