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Auctions in which losers set the price

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  • Mezzetti, Claudio
  • Tsetlin, Ilia

Abstract

We study auctions of a single asset among symmetric bidders with affiliated values. We show that the second-price auction minimizes revenue among all efficient auction mechanisms in which only the winner pays, and the price only depends on the losers' bids. In particular, we show that the kth price auction generates higher revenue than the second-price auction, for all k>2. If rationing is allowed, with shares of the asset rationed among the t highest bidders, then the (t+1)st price auction yields the lowest revenue among all auctions with rationing in which only the winners pay and the unit price only depends on the losers' bids. Finally, we compute bidding functions and revenue of the kth price auction, with and without rationing, for an illustrative example much used in the experimental literature to study first-price, second-price and English auctions.

Suggested Citation

  • Mezzetti, Claudio & Tsetlin, Ilia, 2009. "Auctions in which losers set the price," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 855-864, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:66:y:2009:i:2:p:855-864
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Olga Gorelkina, 2014. "Bidder Collusion and the Auction with Target Bids," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2014_10, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    2. Mares Vlad & Shor Mikhael, 2012. "On the Competitive Effects of Bidding Syndicates," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-33, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auctions Second-price auction English auction kth price auction Affiliated values Rationing Robust mechanism design;

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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