We study the optimal auction problem with participation costs in the symmetric independent private values setting, where bidders know their valuations when they make independent participation decisions. After characterizing the optimal auction in terms of participation cutoffs, we provide an example where it is asymmetric. We then investigate when the optimal auction will be symmetric/asymmetric and the nature of possible asymmetries. We also show that, under some conditions, the seller obtains her maximal profit in an (asymmetric) equilibrium of an anonymous second price auction. In general, the seller can also use non-anonymous auctions that resemble the ones that are actually observed in practice.
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Paper provided by Microeconomics.ca Website in its series Micro Theory Working Papers with number
celik-05-05-09-03-55-40.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Roger B. Myerson, 1978.
"Optimal Auction Design,"
Discussion Papers
362, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
[Downloadable!]
Jacques Cremer & Yossi Spiegel & Charles Z. Zheng, 2005.
"Optimal Search Auctions,"
Discussion Papers
1421, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
[Downloadable!]
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