Sequential First-price Auction Research Articles

Identification of Interdependent Values in Sequential First-Price Auctions

We revisit the (non-)identification of affiliated interdependent-value auctions from the perspective of sequential auctions introduced by Milgrom and Weber (2000). In contrast to static auctions, prices in early rounds affect bidding in later rounds in sequential auctions, generating enough variation for testing interdependent against private values and model identification. We develop nonparametric tests and identification results by exploring the functional dependence of the pseudo values in later rounds on the prices in early rounds. We also discuss applications and extensions of our results, including cases of non-identical goods, observed covariates and unobserved heterogeneity.

Auction Pricing Mechanism of Construction Land Quota Based on Preference

In order to study the impact of the location preference of construction land on the auction pricing strategy of construction land quota, this study constructs a first-price auction and two-price auction model for bidders participating in the construction land quota and construction land auction based on the sequential auction theory. Therefore, the role of preference is discussed, and finally the conclusion is verified by an example. The results show that under the two auction modes, preference has a positive impact on the bidding strategy of construction land quota and farmers’ expected income. Compared with sequential first-price auction, the bidding strategy of sequential second-price auction is more competitive, and the quota equilibrium bidding price and farmers’ income obtained are higher.

Information disclosure by a seller in sequential first-price auctions

I study sequential first-price auctions where two items are sold to two bidders with private binary valuations. A seller, prior to the second auction, can publicly disclose some information about the outcome of the first auction. I characterize equilibrium strategies for various disclosure rules when the valuations of bidders are either perfectly positively or perfectly negatively correlated across items. I establish outcome equivalence between different disclosure rules. I find that it is optimal for the seller to disclose some information when the valuations are negatively correlated, whereas it is optimal not to disclose any information when the valuations are positively correlated. For most of the parameter values, the seller’s expected revenue is higher if the losing bid is disclosed. When only the winner’s identity is disclosed, the equilibrium is efficient whether the valuations are positively or negatively correlated.

Sequential First-Price Auction with Randomly Arriving Buyers

AbstractIn this paper we reanalyze Said’s (2011) work by retaining all his assumptions except that we use the first-price auction to sell differentiated goods to buyers in dynamic markets instead of the second-price auction. We conclude that except for the expression of the equilibrium bidding strategy, all the results for the first-price auction are exactly the same as the corresponding ones for the second-price auction established by Said (2011). This implies that the well-known “revenue equivalence theorem” holds true for Said’s (2011) dynamic model setting.

A note on sequential auctions with multi-unit demand

Within the independent private value paradigm, this note first analyzes two-round sequential first-price auctions with multi-unit demand. We show that the expected price in the first round is strictly lower than that in the second round due to the “extraction effect”. We then compare the revenues for the sequential auctions and the simultaneous auctions. We show that the discriminatory auction, the Vickrey auction, and the sequential second-price auctions generate the same revenue for the seller, followed in order by the sequential first-price auctions, and by the uniform-price auction.

Bidding behavior at sequential first-price auctions with(out) supply uncertainty: A laboratory analysis

We report on a series of experiments that test the effects of an uncertain supply on bidding behavior and prices in sequential first-price auctions with private-independent values and unit-demands. Supply is assumed uncertain when buyers do not know the exact number of units to be sold (i.e., the length of the sequence). We observe an important overbidding in all but the last stage of a sequence, no matter whether supply is certain, and a non-monotone behavior when supply is certain. Yet, the data qualitatively support most stage-to-stage bid predictions and the price trend predictions for risk neutral bidders.

Using first-price auctions to sell heterogeneous licenses

This paper considers three alternative ways to sell heterogeneous licenses via a first-price format when there is single unit demand. It has been suggested that incorporating a first-price element may bolster competition in this case [Klemperer, Paul D., 2002. What really matters in auction design. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16, 169–189]. In a controlled laboratory setting, we compare the performance of the simultaneous first-price auction, the sequential first-price auction and the simultaneous descending auction with that of the simultaneous ascending auction. The experiments involve several bidding environments of varying complexity. We find that the simultaneous ascending auction achieves the highest levels of efficiency but also has drawbacks: (i) its revenues are low and variable, (ii) per-license profits vary, and (iii) the incidence of winner's curse outcomes is high. Seller's revenues are highest when the licenses are sold in a sequential first-price auction, in decreasing order of quality.

Bidding at Sequential First-price Auctions with(out) Supply Uncertainty: A Laboratory Analysis

We report on a series of experiments that test the effects of an uncertain supply on the formation of bids and prices in sequential first-price auctions with private-independent values and unit-demands. Supply is assumed uncertain when buyers do not know the exact number of units to be sold (i.e., the length of the sequence). Although we observe a non-monotone behavior when supply is certain and an important overbidding, the data qualitatively support our price trend predictions and the risk neutral Nash equilibrium model of bidding for the last stage of a sequence, whether supply is certain or not. Our study shows that behavior in these markets changes significantly with the presence of an uncertain supply, and that it can be explained by assuming that bidders formulate pessimistic beliefs about the occurrence of another stage.