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A Direct Test of Risk Aversion and Regret in First Price Sealed-Bid Auctions

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  • Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans

    (College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61820)

  • Elena Katok

    (Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802)

Abstract

Why do bidders tend to bid higher than the risk-neutral Nash equilibrium in sealed-bid first price auction experiments? The effect of risk aversion has long been offered as a possible explanation. More recently, several studies proposed regret as another explanation, citing strong experimental evidence. But which effect is more important? We design an experiment to separate the effects of risk aversion from those of regret. We find overwhelming evidence in support of the regret model, and virtually no support for the constant relative risk aversion model.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans & Elena Katok, 2009. "A Direct Test of Risk Aversion and Regret in First Price Sealed-Bid Auctions," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 6(2), pages 75-86, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ordeca:v:6:y:2009:i:2:p:75-86
    DOI: 10.1287/deca.1090.0135
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Shakun D. Mago & Anya C. Savikhin & Roman M. Sheremeta, 2012. "Facing Your Opponents: Social identification and information feedback in contests," Working Papers 12-15, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    2. Jason Shachat & Lijia Tan, 2015. "An Experimental Investigation of Auctions and Bargaining in Procurement," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(5), pages 1036-1051, May.
    3. Oliver Kirchkamp & Wladislaw Mill, 2019. "Spite vs. risk: explaining overbidding," CESifo Working Paper Series 7631, CESifo.
    4. Sascha Füllbrunn & Dirk‐Jan Janssen & Utz Weitzel, 2019. "Risk Aversion And Overbidding In First Price Sealed Bid Auctions: New Experimental Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 631-647, January.
    5. Brisset, Karine & Cochard, François & Le Gallo, Julie, 2015. "Secret versus public reserve price in an “outcry” English procurement auction: Experimental results," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 285-298.
    6. Grundl, Serafin & Zhu, Yu, 2023. "Robust inference in first-price auctions: Overbidding as an identifying restriction," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 484-506.
    7. Zhong-Zhong Jiang & Guangwen Kong & Yinghao Zhang, 2021. "Making the Most of Your Regret: Workers’ Relocation Decisions in On-Demand Platforms," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 695-713, May.
    8. Peter Cramton & Pacharasut Sujarittanonta, 2010. "Pricing Rule in a Clock Auction," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 40-57, March.
    9. Theodore L. Turocy & Elizabeth Watson, 2012. "Reservation Values and Regret in Laboratory First‐Price Auctions: Context and Bidding Behavior," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(4), pages 1163-1180, April.
    10. Ali E. Abbas & Il-Horn Hann, 2010. "Measuring Risk Aversion in a Name-Your-Own-Price Channel," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 123-136, March.
    11. Masiliūnas, Aidas, 2023. "Learning in rent-seeking contests with payoff risk and foregone payoff information," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 50-72.
    12. Zhixi Wan & Damian R. Beil & Elena Katok, 2012. "When Does It Pay to Delay Supplier Qualification? Theory and Experiments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(11), pages 2057-2075, November.
    13. L. Robin Keller & Kelly M. Kophazi, 2009. "From the Editors..," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 6(2), pages 53-56, June.
    14. L. Robin Keller, 2012. "From the Editor---Decisions over Time (Exploding Offers or Purchase Regret), in Game Settings (Embedded Nash Bargaining or Adversarial Games), and in Influence Diagrams," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 9(1), pages 1-5, March.
    15. Kirchkamp, Oliver & Mill, Wladislaw, 2021. "Spite vs. risk: Explaining overbidding in the second-price all-pay auction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 616-635.
    16. Robert F. Bordley & Elena Katok & L. Robin Keller, 2010. "Honoring Michael H. Rothkopf's Legacy of Rigor and Relevance in Auction Theory: From the Editors," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 1-4, March.
    17. Lorentziadis, Panos L., 2016. "Optimal bidding in auctions from a game theory perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 347-371.
    18. Wang, Chao & Guo, Peijun, 2017. "Behavioral models for first-price sealed-bid auctions with the one-shot decision theory," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 994-1000.
    19. Mill, Wladislaw, 2017. "The spite motive in third price auctions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 71-73.
    20. Ninoslav Malekovic & Lazaros Goutas & Juliana Sutanto & Dennis Galletta, 2020. "Regret under different auction designs: the case of English and Dutch auctions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(1), pages 151-161, March.
    21. Enrico Diecidue & Nils Rudi & Wenjie Tang, 2012. "Dynamic Purchase Decisions Under Regret: Price and Availability," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 9(1), pages 22-30, March.
    22. Theodore L. Turocy & Timothy N. Cason, 2015. "Bidding in first-price and second-price interdependent-values auctions: A laboratory experiment," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 15-23, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    23. Xiaohu Qian & Shu-Cherng Fang & Min Huang & Qi An & Xingwei Wang, 2018. "Reverse auctions with regret-anticipated bidders," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 268(1), pages 293-313, September.
    24. Panos L. Lorentziadis, 2020. "Value-Rationalizability in Auction Bidding," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 1-13, June.
    25. Diego Aycinena & Hernán Bejarano & Lucas Rentschler, 2018. "Informed entry in auctions," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 47(1), pages 175-205, March.

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