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An Overview of Combinatorial Auctions

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Abstract

An auction is combinatorial when bidders can place bids on combinations of items, called “packages,” rather than just individual items. Computer scientists are interested in combinatorial auctions because they are concerned with the expressiveness of bidding languages, as well as the algorithmic aspects of the underlying combinatorial problem. The combinatorial problem has attracted attention from operations researchers, especially those working in combinatorial optimization and mathematical programming, who are fascinated by the idea of applying these tools to auctions. Auctions have been studied extensively by economists, of course. Thus, the newly emerging field of combinatorial auctions lies at the intersection of computer science, operations research, and economics. In this article, we present a brief introduction to combinatorial auctions, based on our book, Combinatorial Auctions (MIT Press, 2006), in which we look at combinatorial auctions from all three perspectives.

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  • Peter Cramton & Yoav Shoham & Richard Steinberg, 2007. "An Overview of Combinatorial Auctions," Papers of Peter Cramton 07oca, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 2007.
  • Handle: RePEc:pcc:pccumd:07oca
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lawrence M. Ausubel & Peter Cramton, 2004. "Auctioning Many Divisible Goods," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 480-493, 04/05.
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    3. Michael H. Rothkopf, 1969. "A Model of Rational Competitive Bidding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(7), pages 362-373, March.
    4. Peter Cramton, 2002. "Spectrum Auctions," Papers of Peter Cramton 01hte, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 16 Jul 2001.
    5. Milgrom, Paul R & Weber, Robert J, 1982. "A Theory of Auctions and Competitive Bidding," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(5), pages 1089-1122, September.
    6. Milgrom, Paul R, 1981. "Rational Expectations, Information Acquisition, and Competitive Bidding," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 921-943, June.
    7. Paul Klemperer, 2004. "Auctions: Theory and Practice," Online economics textbooks, SUNY-Oswego, Department of Economics, number auction1.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ritu Singhal & Varun Sharma & Ishita Singhal & Vikas Bansal, 2024. "Blockchain-enabled auction for cloud resource provisioning: a survey on trust and economy," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 15(7), pages 2787-2807, July.
    2. D'avid Csercsik, 2020. "Strategic bidding via the interplay of minimum income condition orders in day-ahead power exchanges," Papers 2012.07789, arXiv.org.
    3. Susan Athey & Glenn Ellison, 2011. "Position Auctions with Consumer Search," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1213-1270.
    4. Csercsik, Dávid, 2021. "Strategic bidding via the interplay of minimum income condition orders in day-ahead power exchanges," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Richstein, Jörn C. & Lorenz, Casimir & Neuhoff, Karsten, 2020. "An auction story: How simple bids struggle with uncertainty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Tan, Bing Qing & Xu, Su Xiu & Kang, Kai & Xu, Gangyan & Qin, Wei, 2021. "A reverse Vickrey auction for physical internet (PI) enabled parking management systems," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auctions;

    JEL classification:

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

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