IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/mateco/v118y2025ics0304406825000199.html

A globally convergent alternating one-track auction for gross substitutes and complements

Author

Listed:
  • Song, Siqi
  • Zhang, Chi

Abstract

We propose a new globally convergent dynamic auction for selling multiple indivisible items. There are two finite and disjoint sets of items. Items in each set can be heterogeneous but are substitutes, and items across the two sets are complements. Each bidder may demand several items. In each round of the auction, every bidder reports his demand of items at the current prices and the auctioneer responds by either increasing prices or exclusively decreasing prices. We show that the auction converges globally to a Walrasian equilibrium.

Suggested Citation

  • Song, Siqi & Zhang, Chi, 2025. "A globally convergent alternating one-track auction for gross substitutes and complements," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:mateco:v:118:y:2025:i:c:s0304406825000199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmateco.2025.103102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304406825000199
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jmateco.2025.103102?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andersson, Tommy & Erlanson, Albin, 2013. "Multi-item Vickrey–English–Dutch auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 116-129.
    2. T. Andersson & C. Andersson & A. Talman, 2013. "Sets in excess demand in simple ascending auctions with unit-demand bidders," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 211(1), pages 27-36, December.
    3. Paul Milgrom, 2000. "Putting Auction Theory to Work: The Simultaneous Ascending Auction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(2), pages 245-272, April.
    4. Crawford, Vincent P & Knoer, Elsie Marie, 1981. "Job Matching with Heterogeneous Firms and Workers," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(2), pages 437-450, March.
    5. Gul, Faruk & Stacchetti, Ennio, 2000. "The English Auction with Differentiated Commodities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 66-95, May.
    6. Gul, Faruk & Stacchetti, Ennio, 1999. "Walrasian Equilibrium with Gross Substitutes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 95-124, July.
    7. Ning Sun & Zaifu Yang, 2006. "Equilibria and Indivisibilities: Gross Substitutes and Complements," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1385-1402, September.
    8. Ning Sun & Zaifu Yang, 2009. "A Double-Track Adjustment Process for Discrete Markets With Substitutes and Complements," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 933-952, May.
    9. Paul Klemperer, 2004. "Auctions: Theory and Practice," Online economics textbooks, SUNY-Oswego, Department of Economics, number auction1, December.
    10. Philippe Jehiel & Benny Moldovanu, 2003. "An economic perspective on auctions [‘An efficient as cending-bid auction for multiple objects’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 18(36), pages 269-308.
    11. Mishra, Debasis & Parkes, David C., 2007. "Ascending price Vickrey auctions for general valuations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 335-366, January.
    12. repec:bla:ecpoli:v:18:y:2003:i:36:p:269-308 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Milgrom,Paul, 2004. "Putting Auction Theory to Work," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521536721, Enero-Abr.
    14. Ning Sun & Zaifu Yang, 2014. "An Efficient and Incentive Compatible Dynamic Auction for Multiple Complements," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(2), pages 422-466.
    15. Demange, Gabrielle & Gale, David & Sotomayor, Marilda, 1986. "Multi-Item Auctions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 863-872, August.
    16. Paul Klemperer, 2004. "Auctions: Theory and Practice," Online economics textbooks, SUNY-Oswego, Department of Economics, number auction1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Satoru Fujishige & Zaifu Yang, 2017. "On a spontaneous decentralized market process," The Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design, Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, University of York, vol. 2(1), pages 1-37, December.
    2. Satoru Fujishige & Zaifu Yang, 2020. "A Universal Dynamic Auction for Unimodular Demand Types: An Efficient Auction Design for Various Kinds of Indivisible Commodities," Discussion Papers 20/08, Department of Economics, University of York.
    3. Zaifu Yang & Jingsheng Yu, 2024. "An Efficient and General Ascending Menu Auction under Budget Constraints," The Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design, Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, University of York, vol. 9(1), pages 105-130, December.
    4. A. Talman & Zaifu Yang, 2015. "An efficient multi-item dynamic auction with budget constrained bidders," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 44(3), pages 769-784, August.
    5. Gerard van der Laan & Zaifu Yang, 2016. "An ascending multi-item auction with financially constrained bidders," The Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design, Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, University of York, vol. 1(1), pages 109-149, December.
    6. Satoru Fujishige & Zaifu Yang, 2026. "A Universally Efficient Dynamic Auction for All Unimodular Demand Types," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 829-851, January.
    7. Zhou, Yu & Serizawa, Shigehiro, 2023. "Multi-object auction design beyond quasi-linearity: Leading examples," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 210-228.
    8. Ingebretsen Carlson, Jim, 2016. "An Auction with Approximated Bidder Preferences - When an Auction has to be Quick," Working Papers 2016:12, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    9. Jim Ingebretsen Carlson, 2020. "A speedy auction using approximated bidders’ preferences," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 288(1), pages 65-93, May.
    10. Satoru Fujishige & Zaifu Yang, 2015. "Decentralised Random Competitive Dynamic Market Processes," Discussion Papers 15/27, Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Zaifu Yang & Jingsheng Yu, 2018. "Efficient Ascending Menu Auctions with Budget Constrained Bidders," Discussion Papers 18/09, Department of Economics, University of York.
    12. Sun, Ning & Yang, Zaifu, 2016. "An Efficient and Strategy-Proof Double-Track Auction for Substitutes and Complements," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 523, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    13. Akiyoshi Shioura & Zaifu Yang, 2013. "Equilibrium, Auction, Multiple Substitutes and Complements," Discussion Papers 13/17, Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Kazuo Murota, 2016. "Discrete convex analysis: A tool for economics and game theory," The Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design, Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, University of York, vol. 1(1), pages 151-273, December.
    15. Eickhoff, Katharina & Neuwohner, Meike & Peis, Britta & Rieken, Niklas & Vargas Koch, Laura & Végh, Lázló A., 2025. "Faster dynamic auctions via polymatroid sum," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 127980, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Ning Sun & Zaifu Yang, 2008. "A Double-Track Auction for Substitutes and Complements," KIER Working Papers 656, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    17. Satoru Fujishige & Zaifu Yang, 2025. "A Universally Efficient Dynamic Auction for All Unimodular Demand Types," Discussion Papers 25/02, Department of Economics, University of York.
    18. Jagadeesan, Ravi & Kominers, Scott Duke & Rheingans-Yoo, Ross, 2018. "Strategy-proofness of worker-optimal matching with continuously transferable utility," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 287-294.
    19. Ingebretsen Carlson, Jim, 2015. "An Approximate Auction," Working Papers 2015:19, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    20. Chao Huang, 2024. "A dynamic auction for multilateral collaboration," Papers 2411.06545, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:mateco:v:118:y:2025:i:c:s0304406825000199. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jmateco .

    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.