scholarly journals From English to First-Price Sealed Bid: An Empirical Assessment of the Change in Auction Type on Experienced Bidders

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua J. Miller

Abstract This paper estimate the differential impact of first-price sealed-bid (first-price) auctions relative to English auctions on auction revenue. While there is a theoretical literature on the potential outcomes of first-price relative to English auction, there is a paucity of articles that empirically estimate this relationship. The answer to this question is important not only to economists but also those designing auction for practical application. Using a unique dataset from tax lien auctions in Illinois, I empirically test the effect of a switch in auction type from English to first-price. I find auction revenue is greatly increased, by as much as 22 percent, under the first-price auction. The results are supported by a within county difference-in-difference model specification and are robust when restricting the sample across various specifications

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 1063-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lucking-Reiley

William Vickrey's predicted equivalences between first-price sealed-bid and Dutch auctions, and between second-price sealed-bid and English auctions, are tested using field experiments that auctioned off collectible trading cards over the Internet. The results indicate that the Dutch auction produces 30-percent higher revenues than the first-price auction format, a violation of the theoretical prediction and a reversal of previous laboratory results, and that the English and second-price formats produce roughly equivalent revenues. (JEL C93, D44)


2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 1911-1929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Bergemann ◽  
Benjamin Brooks ◽  
Stephen Morris

We revisit the revenue comparison of standard auction formats, including first-price, second-price, and English auctions. We rank auctions according to their revenue guarantees, i.e., the greatest lower bound of revenue across all informational environments, where we hold fixed the distribution of bidders’ values. We conclude that if we restrict attention to the symmetric affiliated models of Milgrom and Weber (1982) and monotonic pure-strategy equilibria, first-price, second-price, and English auctions are revenue guarantee equivalent: they have the same revenue guarantee, which is equal to that of the first-price auction as characterized by Bergemann, Brooks, and Morris (2017). If we consider all equilibria or if we allow more general models of information, then first-price auctions have a greater revenue guarantee than all other auctions considered. (JEL D44, D83)


Author(s):  
Xiaoyong Cao ◽  
Shao-Chieh Hsueh ◽  
Guoqiang Tian

Abstract This paper addresses the ratifiability of an efficient cartel mechanism in a first-price auction. When a seller uses a first-price sealed-bid auction, the efficient all-inclusive cartel mechanism will no longer be ratifiable in the presence of both participation costs and potential information leakage. A bidder whose value is higher than a cut-off in the cartel will have an incentive to leave the cartel, thereby sending a credible signal of his high value, which discourages other bidders from participating in the seller’s auction. However, the cartel mechanism is still ratifiable where either the participation cost or information leakage is absent.


2007 ◽  
Vol 09 (04) ◽  
pp. 719-730
Author(s):  
WINSTON T. H. KOH

In government procurement auctions, discrimination in favor of one group of participants (e.g. domestic firms, minority bidders) over another group is a common practice. The optimal discriminatory rules for these auctions are typically non-linear and could be administratively complex and costly to implement. In practice, procurement auctions are usually organized as sealed-bid first-price auction with a simple percentage price-preference policy. In this paper, we analyze a model with two bidders that draw their costs from a common uniform distribution, and derive an upper bound to the welfare loss resulting from the use of linear-price preference auctions.


1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Winston T. H. Koh

The paper considers the following problem: One local firm and one foreign firm, each risk-neutral, bid to supply a government project, each knowing its cost, and knowing that the rival's cost is independently uniform on [0,1]. The government wishes to maximise the local surplus, defined as the sum of consumer surplus and the local firm's profit. The paper analyses the equilibrium bid strategies for the protectionist first-price auction, and shows that the protectionist first-price auction generates a larger local surplus compared with the protectionist second-price auction when rule-of-thumb discrimination is practised. The result provides another reason for the prevalence of sealed-bid auctions in government procurement.


2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmar G. Wolfstetter ◽  
Motty Perry ◽  
Shmuel Zamir
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
William Britt ◽  
William Gryc ◽  
Jamie Oliva ◽  
Brittney Tuff ◽  
Charli White

We model for “Buy-It-Now or Best Offer” auctions on eBay using two different models. In the first model, risk-neutral bidders submit bids in serial and try to surpass a stochastic seller threshold while taking into account how many previous failed bids were made by other bidders. We compute optimal strategies for this model and show that bidder expected surplus decreases in the number of previous failed bids. In the second model we assume bidders do not know how many previous failed bids have been made, and instead use a first-price sealed-bid mechanism with a buy-out price where bidders serially submit bids with the knowledge that no previous bidders have used the buy-out price. We derive a unique equilibrium bidding strategy for risk-neutral bidders in this serial model, show that any equilibrium in a similar parallel bidding model is the same as the equilibrium in the serial model, and compute seller revenue. In particular, under certain circumstances, bidders will bid more in this format than they would in a standard first-price sealed-bid auction, but that a seller maximizes expected revenue by setting a buy-out price higher than any bidder is willing to pay thereby making the auction essentially a first-price auction. KEYWORDS: Auction Theory; eBay; Buy-It-Now or Best Offer; Symmetric Bayesian Nash Equilibrium; Buy-Out Price; First-Price Sealed-Bid


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