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The Wait-and-See Option in Ascending Price Auctions

Author

Listed:
  • Olivier Compte

    (CERAS-ENPC and CNRS,)

  • Philippe Jehiel

    (CERAS-ENPC and University College London,)

Abstract

Ascending auctions offer agents the option to wait and see before deciding to drop out. We show that in contexts where as time proceeds agents get finer and finer estimates of their valuations, incentives to drop out at one's expected valuation are weak: it is optimal for agents to wait and see. We first illustrate the claim in a private value setting. We next analyze an interdependent value setting in which this wait and see option results in an imperfect information aggregation. We also analyze the implications for the seller's revenue, and show that the ascending format may dominate the second-price format, independently of the date at which the second price auction is run. (JEL: D44, D83) Copyright (c) 2004 The European Economic Association.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Compte & Philippe Jehiel, 2004. "The Wait-and-See Option in Ascending Price Auctions," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 494-503, 04/05.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:jeurec:v:2:y:2004:i:2-3:p:494-503
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Olivier Compte & Philippe Jehiel, 2007. "Auctions and information acquisition: sealed bid or dynamic formats?," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(2), pages 355-372, June.
    2. Rasmusen Eric Bennett, 2006. "Strategic Implications of Uncertainty over One's Own Private Value in Auctions," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Laurent Lamy, 2009. "Ascending auctions: some impossibility results and their resolutions with final price discounts," PSE Working Papers halshs-00575076, HAL.
    4. B Kelsey Jack, 2009. "Auctioning Conservation Contracts in Indonesia - Participant Learning in Multiple Trial Rounds," CID Working Papers 35, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    5. Tanjim Hossain, 2008. "Learning by bidding," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(2), pages 509-529, June.
    6. Leonardo Rezende, 2018. "Mid-auction information acquisition," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(3), pages 751-780, May.
    7. David Ettinger & Fabio Michelucci, 2016. "Hiding Information in Open Auctions with Jump Bids," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1484-1502, August.
    8. Laurent Lamy, 2009. "Ascending auctions: some impossibility results and their resolutions with final price discounts," Working Papers halshs-00575076, HAL.
    9. Vadovič, Radovan, 2017. "Bidding behavior and price search in Internet auctions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 125-147.
    10. Yossi Shvimer & Avi Herbon, 2020. "Tradability, closeness to market prices, and expected profit: their measurement for a binomial model of options pricing in a heterogeneous market," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 15(3), pages 737-762, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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