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Equilibrium Prices in Bundle Auctions

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  • Peter R. Wurman
  • Michael P. Wellman

Abstract

The allocation of discrete, complementary resources is a fundamental problem in economics and of direct interest to e-commerce applications. In this paper we establish that competitive equilibrium bundle prices always exist that support the efficient allocation in discrete resource allocation problems with free disposal. We believe that this is an important step in the quest for a mechanism that performs well in the face of complementary preferences. We present a family of auctions that use this bundle pricing policy, and make some initial observations on several of its members, including the new Ascending k-Bundle auction.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter R. Wurman & Michael P. Wellman, 1999. "Equilibrium Prices in Bundle Auctions," Working Papers 99-09-064, Santa Fe Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:safiwp:99-09-064
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Milgrom, Paul, 1989. "Auctions and Bidding: A Primer," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 3-22, Summer.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Drexl, Andreas & Jørnsten, Kurt & Knof, Diether, 2007. "Column aggregation-based pricing combinatorial auctions," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 624, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    2. Gajanan Panchal & Vipul Jain & Naoufel Cheikhrouhou & Matthias Gurtner, 2017. "Equilibrium analysis in multi-echelon supply chain with multi-dimensional utilities of inertial players," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(4), pages 417-436, August.
    3. Proano, Ruben A. & Jacobson, Sheldon H. & Zhang, Wenbo, 2012. "Making combination vaccines more accessible to low-income countries: The antigen bundle pricing problem," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 53-64, January.
    4. William E. Walsh & Michael P. Wellman, 1999. "Efficiency and Equilibrium in Task Allocation Economics with Hierarchical Dependencies," Working Papers 99-07-049, Santa Fe Institute.
    5. Somdeb Lahiri, 2006. "Existence of Equilibrium for Integer Allocation Problems," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 28(14), pages 1.
    6. A Drexl & K Jørnsten, 2007. "Reflections about pseudo-dual prices in combinatorial auctions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(12), pages 1652-1659, December.
    7. Xia, Mu & Koehler, Gary J. & Whinston, Andrew B., 2004. "Pricing combinatorial auctions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(1), pages 251-270, April.
    8. Wurman, Peter R. & Wellman, Michael P. & Walsh, William E., 2001. "A Parametrization of the Auction Design Space," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 35(1-2), pages 304-338, April.
    9. Jawad Abrache & Teodor Crainic & Michel Gendreau & Monia Rekik, 2007. "Combinatorial auctions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 131-164, September.

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    Keywords

    Combinatorial auctions; equilibrium; bundling.;
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