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Information Aggregation in Auctions with an Unknown Number of Bidders

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Author Info
Ronald M. Harstad () (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia)
Aleksandar Pekec
Ilia Tsetlin

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Abstract

Information aggregation, a key concern for uniform-price, common-value auctions with many bidders, has been characterized in models where bidders know exactly how many rivals they face. A model allowing for uncertainty over the number of bidders is essential for capturing a critical condition for information to aggregate: as the numbers of winning and losing bidders grow large, information aggregates if and only if uncertainty about the fraction of winning bidders vanishes. It is possible for the seller to impart this information by precommitting to a specified fraction of winning bidders, via a proportional selling policy. Intuitively, this makes the proportion of winners known, and thus provides all the information that bidders need to make winners curse corrections.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of Missouri in its series Working Papers with number 0605.

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Length: 38 pgs.
Date of creation: 27 Dec 2005
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Handle: RePEc:umc:wpaper:0605

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Related research
Keywords: information aggregation; common-value auctions; uncertain level of competition;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Auctions
D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information
D41 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Perfect Competition

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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.:
  1. Milgrom, Paul R, 1981. "Rational Expectations, Information Acquisition, and Competitive Bidding," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 921-43, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Matthews, Steven, 1987. "Comparing Auctions for Risk Averse Buyers: A Buyer's Point of View," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(3), pages 633-46, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Riley, John G, 1988. "Ex Post Information in Auctions," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(3), pages 409-29, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Klemperer, P., 1999. "Auction Theory: a Guide to the Literature," Economics Papers 1999-w12, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
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  5. Wolfgang Pesendorfer & Jeroen M. Swinkels, 1997. "The Loser's Curse and Information Aggregation in Common Value Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(6), pages 1247-1282, November.
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  6. Wilson, Robert, 1977. "A Bidding Model of Perfect Competition," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(3), pages 511-18, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Harstad, Ronald M. & Kagel, John H. & Levin, Dan, 1990. "Equilibrium bid functions for auctions with an uncertain number of bidders," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 35-40, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Hong, Han & Shum, Matthew, 2004. "Rates of information aggregation in common value auctions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-40, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Matthew. O. Jackson & Ilan Kremer, 2006. "The Relevance of a Choice of Auction Format in a Competitive Environment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 73(4), pages 961-981, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Ilan Kremer, 2002. "Information Aggregation in Common Value Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1675-1682, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Milgrom, Paul R & Weber, Robert J, 1982. "A Theory of Auctions and Competitive Bidding," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(5), pages 1089-1122, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Milgrom, Paul R, 1979. "A Convergence Theorem for Competitive Bidding with Differential Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(3), pages 679-88, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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.)

  1. Ronald M. Harstad, 2007. "Does a Seller Really Want Another Bidder?," Working Papers 0711, Department of Economics, University of Missouri. [Downloadable!]
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