IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orisre/v22y2011i2p346-368.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Experimental Comparison of Linear and Nonlinear Price Combinatorial Auctions

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Scheffel

    (Internet-Based Information Systems, Department of Informatics, Technische Universität München, 85478 München, Germany)

  • Alexander Pikovsky

    (Internet-Based Information Systems, Department of Informatics, Technische Universität München, 85478 München, Germany)

  • Martin Bichler

    (Internet-Based Information Systems, Department of Informatics, Technische Universität München, 85478 München, Germany)

  • Kemal Guler

    (Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California 94304)

Abstract

Combinatorial auctions are used for the efficient allocation of heterogeneous goods and services. They require appropriate software platforms that provide automated winner determination and decision support for bidders. Several promising ascending combinatorial auction formats have been developed throughout the past few years based on primal-dual algorithms and linear programming theory. The ascending proxy auction and iBundle result in Vickrey payoffs when the coalitional value function satisfies buyer submodularity conditions and bidders bid their best responses. These auction formats are based on nonlinear and personalized ask prices. In addition, there are a number of designs with linear prices that have performed well in experiments, the approximate linear prices auction, and the combinatorial clock auction. In this paper, we provide the results of lab experiments that tested these different auction formats in the same setting. We analyze aggregate metrics such as efficiency and auctioneer revenue for small- and medium-sized value models. In addition, we provide a detailed analysis not only of aggregate performance metrics but also of individual bidding behaviour under alternative combinatorial auction formats.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Scheffel & Alexander Pikovsky & Martin Bichler & Kemal Guler, 2011. "An Experimental Comparison of Linear and Nonlinear Price Combinatorial Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 346-368, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:22:y:2011:i:2:p:346-368
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.1090.0267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.1090.0267
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/isre.1090.0267?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cramton, Peter & Schwartz, Jesse A, 2000. "Collusive Bidding: Lessons from the FCC Spectrum Auctions," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 229-252, May.
    2. Isaac, R. Mark & Salmon, Timothy C. & Zillante, Arthur, 2007. "A theory of jump bidding in ascending auctions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 144-164, January.
    3. Anthony M. Kwasnica & John O. Ledyard & Dave Porter & Christine DeMartini, 2005. "A New and Improved Design for Multiobject Iterative Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 419-434, March.
    4. de Vries, Sven & Schummer, James & Vohra, Rakesh V., 2007. "On ascending Vickrey auctions for heterogeneous objects," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 95-118, January.
    5. R. Isaac & Duncan James, 2000. "Robustness of the Incentive Compatible Combinatorial Auction," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 3(1), pages 31-53, June.
    6. Xia, Mu & Koehler, Gary J. & Whinston, Andrew B., 2004. "Pricing combinatorial auctions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(1), pages 251-270, April.
    7. Kagel, John H. & Levin, Dan, 1985. "Individual bidder behavior in first-price private value auctions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 125-128.
    8. Frank Kelly & Richard Steinberg, 2000. "A Combinatorial Auction with Multiple Winners for Universal Service," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 586-596, April.
    9. Rassenti, Stephen J. & Smith, Vernon L., 2008. "The Combinatorial Auction," Handbook of Experimental Economics Results, in: Charles R. Plott & Vernon L. Smith (ed.), Handbook of Experimental Economics Results, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 68, pages 644-653, Elsevier.
    10. Roth,Alvin E. (ed.), 1988. "Laboratory Experimentation in Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521333924.
    11. Gediminas Adomavicius & Alok Gupta, 2005. "Toward Comprehensive Real-Time Bidder Support in Iterative Combinatorial Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 169-185, June.
    12. Michael H. Rothkopf, 2007. "Decision Analysis: The Right Tool for Auctions," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 167-172, September.
    13. Ming Fan & Jan Stallaert & Andrew B. Whinston, 2003. "Decentralized Mechanism Design for Supply Chain Organizations Using an Auction Market," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, March.
    14. Cramton, Peter C, 1995. "Money Out of Thin Air: The Nationwide Narrowband PCS Auction," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 267-343, Summer.
    15. Cramton Peter & Schwartz Jesse A, 2002. "Collusive Bidding in the FCC Spectrum Auctions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Jeffrey S. Banks & John O. Ledyard & David P. Porter, 1989. "Allocating Uncertain and Unresponsive Resources: An Experimental Approach," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(1), pages 1-25, Spring.
    17. Milgrom, Paul R & Weber, Robert J, 1982. "A Theory of Auctions and Competitive Bidding," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(5), pages 1089-1122, September.
    18. William Vickrey, 1961. "Counterspeculation, Auctions, And Competitive Sealed Tenders," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 8-37, March.
    19. Martin Bichler & Pasha Shabalin & Alexander Pikovsky, 2009. "A Computational Analysis of Linear Price Iterative Combinatorial Auction Formats," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 33-59, March.
    20. Rajiv D. Banker & Robert J. Kauffman, 2004. "50th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Research on Information Systems: A Fiftieth-Year Survey of the Literature in Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 281-298, March.
    21. S.J. Rassenti & V.L. Smith & R.L. Bulfin, 1982. "A Combinatorial Auction Mechanism for Airport Time Slot Allocation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 402-417, Autumn.
    22. Chen, Yan & Takeuchi, Kan, 2010. "Multi-object auctions with package bidding: An experimental comparison of Vickrey and iBEA," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 557-579, March.
    23. Roth, Alvin E, 1988. "Laboratory Experimentation in Economics: A Methodological Overview," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(393), pages 974-1031, December.
    24. John O. Ledyard & David Porter & Antonio Rangel, 1997. "Experiments Testing Multiobject Allocation Mechanisms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 639-675, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kazumori, Eiichiro & Belch, Yaakov, 2019. "t-Tree: The Tokyo toolbox for large-scale combinatorial auction experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    2. Ioannis Petrakis & Georg Ziegler & Martin Bichler, 2013. "Ascending Combinatorial Auctions with Allocation Constraints: On Game Theoretical and Computational Properties of Generic Pricing Rules," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 768-786, September.
    3. Andor Goetzendorff & Martin Bichler & Pasha Shabalin & Robert W. Day, 2015. "Compact Bid Languages and Core Pricing in Large Multi-item Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(7), pages 1684-1703, July.
    4. Scott Duke Kominers & Alexander Teytelboym & Vincent P Crawford, 2017. "An invitation to market design," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 541-571.
    5. Pallab Sanyal, 2016. "Characteristics and Economic Consequences of Jump Bids in Combinatorial Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 347-364, June.
    6. Dirk Briskorn & Kurt Jørnsten & Jenny Nossack, 2016. "Pricing combinatorial auctions by a set of linear price vectors," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 38(4), pages 1043-1070, October.
    7. Martin Bichler & Pasha Shabalin & Georg Ziegler, 2013. "Efficiency with Linear Prices? A Game-Theoretical and Computational Analysis of the Combinatorial Clock Auction," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 394-417, June.
    8. Kemal Guler & Martin Bichler & Ioannis Petrakis, 2016. "Ascending Combinatorial Auctions with Risk Averse Bidders," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 609-639, May.
    9. Martin Bichler & Zhen Hao & Gediminas Adomavicius, 2017. "Coalition-Based Pricing in Ascending Combinatorial Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 159-179, March.
    10. Vangerven, Bart & Goossens, Dries R. & Spieksma, Frits C.R., 2017. "Winner determination in geometrical combinatorial auctions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(1), pages 254-263.
    11. Martin Bichler & Vladimir Fux & Jacob Goeree, 2018. "A Matter of Equality: Linear Pricing in Combinatorial Exchanges," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 1024-1043, December.
    12. Anthony M. Kwasnica & Katerina Sherstyuk, 2013. "Multiunit Auctions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 461-490, July.
    13. Gediminas Adomavicius & Shawn P. Curley & Alok Gupta & Pallab Sanyal, 2012. "Effect of Information Feedback on Bidder Behavior in Continuous Combinatorial Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(4), pages 811-830, April.
    14. Gediminas Adomavicius & Alok Gupta & Mochen Yang, 2022. "Bidder Support in Multi-item Multi-unit Continuous Combinatorial Auctions: A Unifying Theoretical Framework," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1174-1195, December.
    15. Bart Vangerven & Dries R. Goossens & Frits C. R. Spieksma, 2021. "Using Feedback to Mitigate Coordination and Threshold Problems in Iterative Combinatorial Auctions," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 63(2), pages 113-127, April.
    16. Wolfgang Ketter & Karsten Schroer & Konstantina Valogianni, 2023. "Information Systems Research for Smart Sustainable Mobility: A Framework and Call for Action," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1045-1065, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anthony M. Kwasnica & Katerina Sherstyuk, 2013. "Multiunit Auctions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 461-490, July.
    2. Aleksandar Pekev{c} & Michael H. Rothkopf, 2003. "Combinatorial Auction Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1485-1503, November.
    3. Martin Bichler & Pasha Shabalin & Alexander Pikovsky, 2009. "A Computational Analysis of Linear Price Iterative Combinatorial Auction Formats," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 33-59, March.
    4. Pallab Sanyal, 2016. "Characteristics and Economic Consequences of Jump Bids in Combinatorial Auctions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 347-364, June.
    5. G. Anandalingam & Robert W. Day & S. Raghavan, 2005. "The Landscape of Electronic Market Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 316-327, March.
    6. Park, Sunju & Rothkopf, Michael H., 2005. "Auctions with bidder-determined allowable combinations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 399-415, March.
    7. Chernomaz, Kirill & Levin, Dan, 2012. "Efficiency and synergy in a multi-unit auction with and without package bidding: An experimental study," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 611-635.
    8. Jawad Abrache & Teodor Crainic & Michel Gendreau & Monia Rekik, 2007. "Combinatorial auctions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 131-164, September.
    9. Martin Bichler & Pasha Shabalin & Georg Ziegler, 2013. "Efficiency with Linear Prices? A Game-Theoretical and Computational Analysis of the Combinatorial Clock Auction," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 394-417, June.
    10. Soumyakanti Chakraborty & Anup K. Sen & Amitava Bagchi, 2015. "Addressing the valuation problem in multi-round combinatorial auctions," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1145-1160, October.
    11. Peter Cramton, 2002. "Spectrum Auctions," Papers of Peter Cramton 01hte, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 16 Jul 2001.
    12. Pickl, Matthias & Wirl, Franz, 2011. "Auction design for gas pipeline transportation capacity--The case of Nabucco and its open season," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2143-2151, April.
    13. Munro, David R. & Rassenti, Stephen J., 2019. "Combinatorial clock auctions: Price direction and performance," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 195-217.
    14. Avenali, Alessandro, 2009. "Exploring the VCG mechanism in combinatorial auctions: The threshold revenue and the threshold-price rule," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 199(1), pages 262-275, November.
    15. Gediminas Adomavicius & Shawn P. Curley & Alok Gupta & Pallab Sanyal, 2012. "Effect of Information Feedback on Bidder Behavior in Continuous Combinatorial Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(4), pages 811-830, April.
    16. Chen, Yan & Takeuchi, Kan, 2010. "Multi-object auctions with package bidding: An experimental comparison of Vickrey and iBEA," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 557-579, March.
    17. Ledyard, John O., "undated". "Public Goods: A Survey of Experimental Research," Working Papers 861, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
    18. Zhiling Guo & Gary J. Koehler & Andrew B. Whinston, 2012. "A Computational Analysis of Bundle Trading Markets Design for Distributed Resource Allocation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(3-part-1), pages 823-843, September.
    19. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2020. "Improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2020-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    20. Ausubel Lawrence M & Milgrom Paul R, 2002. "Ascending Auctions with Package Bidding," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-44, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:22:y:2011:i:2:p:346-368. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.