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A Risk Averse Seller in a Continuous Time Auction with a Buyout Option

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  • Timothy Mathews

    (California State University-Northridge)

Abstract

An auction with a buyout option occurring over continuous time with rules similar to eBay’s “buy it now†option is analyzed. It is shown that a risk averse seller facing risk neutral bidders will choose a buyout price low enough so that the buyout option is exercised with positive probability in equilibrium. Further, when the seller is risk averse and bidders are risk neutral, allowing the seller to offer a buyout option results in an ex ante Pareto improvement, compared to a similar auction without such an option.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy Mathews, 2003. "A Risk Averse Seller in a Continuous Time Auction with a Buyout Option," Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, vol. 5(2), January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bej:issued:v:5:y:2002:i:2:mathews
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy Mathews, 2005. "Meaning Of ‘More Risk Averse’ When Preferences Are Over Mean And Variance," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 73(1), pages 75-91, January.
    2. M. S. Feldstein, 1969. "Mean-Variance Analysis in the Theory of Liquidity Preference and Portfolio Selection," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(1), pages 5-12.
    3. Bigelow, John Payne, 1993. "Consistency of mean-variance analysis and expected utility analysis : A complete characterization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 187-192.
    4. Budish, Eric B. & Takeyama, Lisa N., 2001. "Buy prices in online auctions: irrationality on the internet?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 325-333, September.
    5. K. Borch, 1969. "A Note on Uncertainty and Indifference Curves," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(1), pages 1-4.
    6. Timothy Mathews & Brett Katzman, 2006. "The role of varying risk attitudes in an auction with a buyout option," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 27(3), pages 597-613, April.
    7. G. Hanoch & H. Levy, 1969. "The Efficiency Analysis of Choices Involving Risk," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 335-346.
    8. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1970. "Increasing risk: I. A definition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 225-243, September.
    9. Timothy Mathews, 2004. "The Impact of Discounting on an Auction with a Buyout Option: a Theoretical Analysis Motivated by eBay’s Buy-It-Now Feature," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 25-52, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Stanley Reynolds & John Wooders, 2009. "Auctions with a buy price," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 38(1), pages 9-39, January.
    2. Shunda, Nicholas, 2009. "Auctions with a buy price: The case of reference-dependent preferences," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 645-664, November.
    3. Grebe, Tim & Ivanova-Stenzel, Radosveta & Kröger, Sabine, 2006. "How eBay Sellers set “Buy-it-now†prices - Bringing The Field Into the Lab," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 181, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    4. Kirkegaard, René & Overgaard, Per Baltzer, 2008. "Pre-auction offers in asymmetric first-price and second-price auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 145-165, May.
    5. Jérémie Gallien & Shobhit Gupta, 2007. "Temporary and Permanent Buyout Prices in Online Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 814-833, May.
    6. Timothy Mathews, 2005. "Meaning Of ‘More Risk Averse’ When Preferences Are Over Mean And Variance," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 73(1), pages 75-91, January.
    7. Axel Ockenfels & David Reiley & Abdolkarim Sadrieh, 2006. "Online Auctions," NBER Working Papers 12785, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Hidvegi, Zoltan & Wang, Wenli & Whinston, Andrew B., 2006. "Buy-price English auction," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 31-56, July.
    9. René Kirkegaard & Per Baltzer Overgaard, 2008. "Buy‐out prices in auctions: seller competition and multi‐unit demands," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(3), pages 770-789, September.
    10. Zhonghao Shui, 2019. "Rejection prices and an auctioneer with non-monotonic utility," KIER Working Papers 1008, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auctions; Internet; Buyout Option;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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