Uniform Price Auction Research Articles

Bidder Profitability Under Uniform Price Auctions and Systematic Reopenings: The Case of Italian Treasury Bonds

This paper analyzes the uniform price auctions for Italian Treasury securities in 1995-1996 and examines the revenue-efficiency of the auction mechanism, employing an extremely detailed dataset which includes all transactions made by the 41 primary dealers on the screen-based secondary market with their identity. The main findings are that initial auction discounts are negligible and not statistically different from zero. The feature of systematic reopening of a security significantly reduces the variance of price bids between the first and the following auctions, due to the information aggregation function of secondary market trading. Using various trading strategies, market-average price discounts in the reopenings are not statistically different from zero. Price discounts are affected inversely by auction participation, bidders’ competition and information dispersion. Finally, no individual primary dealer is able to capture a positive and significant price discount. From a policy viewpoint our evidence shows that, following the market reform of 1994 and the increase in competition caused by the entry of new international dealers, the uniform price auction mechanism together with systematic reopening has become an efficient selling technique for the Italian Treasury.

Towards equilibrium offers in unit commitment auctions with nonconvex costs

We compare two types of uniform-price auction formats commonly used in wholesale electricity markets—centrally committed and self-committed markets. Auctions in both markets are conducted by an independent system operator that collects generator bids and determines which generators will operate and how much electricity each will produce. In centrally committed markets, generators submit two-part bids consisting of a startup cost and a variable energy cost. Self-committed markets force generators to incorporate their startup costs into a one-part energy bid. The system operator in a centrally committed system ensures that each generator recovers the startup and energy costs stated in its two-part bid, while no such guarantees are made in self-committed markets. The energy cost ranking and incentive properties of these market designs remains an open question. While the system operator can determine the most efficient dispatch with a centralized market, the auction mechanism used to solicit generator data compels generators to overstate costs. Self commitment might involve less efficient dispatch but have better incentive properties. We derive Nash equilibria for both market designs in a symmetric duopoly setting. We also derive simple conditions under which the two market designs will be expected cost-equivalent.

A Uniform Price Auction for Conservation Easements in the Canadian Prairies

This paper describes the application of a uniform price auction with a hidden reserve price in a field project aimed at discovering Canadian landowners’ willingness to accept compensation for placing conservation easements on their lands. This is the only project of this kind in Canada to date, and one of the few worldwide. The paper discusses the design of the auction, describes its implementation, and presents its results. The bids received in the auction conformed with known factors affecting opportunity costs and willingness to accept. The information from this auction was successful in guiding a long-term easement procurement program.

Charity auctions with multiple goods: Bidding behavior and revenue

In a charity auction with multiple goods, we show that the highest-losing bid uniform price auction revenue dominates its lowest-winning bid counterpart. Only in the highest-losing bid uniform price auction is bidding independent of the number of goods and players and revenue increasing in the number of goods.

Discrete Bids and Empirical Inference in Divisible Good Auctions

I examine a model of a uniform price auction of a perfectly divisible good with private informa tion in which the bidders submit discrete bidpoints rather than continuous downward sloping demand functions. 1 characterize necessary conditions for equilibrium bidding. The characterization reveals a close relationship between bidding in multiunit auctions and oligopolistic behaviour. I demonstrate that a recently proposed indirect approach to the revenue comparisons of discriminatory and uniform price auc tions is not valid if bid functions have steps. In particular, bidders may bid above their marginal valuation in a uniform price auction. In order to demonstrate that discrete bidding can have important consequences for empirical analysis I use my model to examine a data set consisting of individual bids in uniform price treasury auctions of the Czech government. I propose an alternative method for evaluating the perfor mance of the employed mechanism. My results suggest that the uniform price auction performs well, both in terms of efficiency of the allocation and in terms of revenue maximization. I estimate that the em ployed mechanism failed to extract at most 3 basis points in terms of the annual yield of T-bills worth of expected surplus while implementing an allocation resulting in almost all the efficient surplus. Failing to account for discreteness of bids would in my application result in overestimating the unextracted revenue by more than 50%.

Measuring the impact of information aggregation mechanisms: An experimental investigation

Abstract This paper measures the effectiveness of market-based and cheap-talk information aggregation. Both information aggregation mechanisms (IAMs) are frequently used prior to IPOs and sales of Treasury bonds – it is largely acknowledged that they provide agents with useful information for subsequent bidding. In a laboratory experiment, we study how information provided by IAMs interacts with private and public information and how agents integrate it in their strategic behavior in a multi-unit common-value uniform-price auction. In market-based IAMs, information gathering prevails and subsequent bidding shows that subjects acknowledge the precision of information. However, in cheap-talk IAMs, there is almost no transmitted information.

Supply Function Equilibria of Pay-as-Bid Auctions

This paper characterizes the Nash equilibrium in a pay-as-bid (discriminatory), divisible-good, procurement auction. Demand by the auctioneer is uncertain as in the supply function equilibrium model. A closed form expression is derived. Existence of an equilibrium is ensured if the hazard rate of the perfectly inelastic demand is monotonically decreasing and sellers have non-decreasing marginal costs. Multiple equilibria can be ruled out for markets, for which the auctioneer’s demand exceeds suppliers’ capacity with a positive probability. The derived equilibrium can be used to model strategic bidding behaviour in pay-as-bid electricity auctions, such as the balancing mechanism of United Kingdom. Offer curves and mark-ups of the derived equilibrium are compared to results for the SFE of a uniform-price auction.

MECHANISM DESIGN FOR OPTIMAL AUCTION OF DIVISIBLE GOODS

In this paper, the auction of divisible goods is investigated and a mechanism design method for optimal auction of divisible goods is presented. First, the definitions of feasible allocations and divisible goods auctions are given based on several important assumptions of divisible goods auction. Second, an optimal auction mechanism of divisible goods is designed, and a method of how to use the uniform price auction to implement the optimal auctions is discussed under the background of allocating the total permitted pollution discharge capacity (TPPDC). Lastly, this method is applied to the environmental planning of Wuhan City Circle in Hubei Province, China.

Supply function equilibria with capacity constraints and pivotal suppliers

The concept of a supply function equilibrium (SFE) has been widely used to model generators' bidding behavior and market power issues in wholesale electricity markets. Observers of electricity markets have noted how generation capacity constraints may contribute to market power of generation firms. If a generation firm's rivals are capacity constrained then the firm may be pivotal; that is, the firm could substantially raise the market price by unilaterally withholding output. However the SFE literature has not fully considered the impact of capacity constraints and pivotal firms on equilibrium predictions. We characterize the set of symmetric supply function equilibria for uniform-price auctions when firms are capacity constrained and show that this set is increasing as capacity per firm rises. We provide conditions under which asymmetric equilibria exist and characterize these equilibria. In addition, we compare results for uniform-price auctions to those for discriminatory auctions, and we compare our SFE predictions to equilibrium predictions of models in which bidders are constrained to bid on discrete units of output.

Sealed v/s open bids for certificates of entitlement under the vehicle quota system in Singapore

The Vehicle Quota System manages vehicle ownership in Singapore by making the procurement of a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) a prerequisite for the registration of a new vehicle. The procurement is done during uniform price auctions of quotas of COEs currently held on a twice-a-month schedule. The auction format which started out as sealed bids in May 1990 changed to open bids in July 2001. This paper uses a regression model framework to investigate if this shift in auction format has resulted in lower COE premium volatility and a better reflection of demand and supply forces. The empirical results are pertinent to transport policy analysis. A suggestion in the form of incentives for early bids is also made to improve the efficiency of the open bids auction.

Are Speculators Unwelcome in Multi-Object Auctions?

I consider a uniform-price auction under complete information. The possibility of resale attracts speculators who have no use value for the objects on sale. A high-value bidder may strictly prefer to let a speculator win some of the objects and then buy in the resale market, in order to keep the auction price low. Although resale induces entry by speculators and therefore increases the number of competitors, high-value bidders' incentives to “reduce demand” are also affected. Allowing resale to attract speculators reduces the seller's revenue when bidders' valuations are dispersed. Speculators increase the seller's revenue only when they are outbid. (JEL D44, D83)

ASSET AUCTIONS, INFORMATION, AND LIQUIDITY

A model is presented of a uniform price auction where bidders compete in demand schedules; the model allows for common and private values in the absence of exogenous noise. It is shown how private information yields more market power than the levels seen with full information. Results obtained here are broadly consistent with evidence from asset auctions, may help explain the response of central banks to the crisis, and suggest potential improvements in the auction formats of asset auctions. (JEL: D44, D82, G14, E58)

Simultaneous vs. sequential sales: Bidder competition and supply uncertainty

Under what circumstances will a seller be better off selling the inventory sequentially, rather than selling it all in a single auction? Does it benefit the seller to reveal how many auctions there will be? We study a uniform-price auction, in which bidders demand no more than one item, and have independent, private values. We show that even (1) when all buyers are present at the beginning of the auction, and (2) when both the seller and the buyers are impatient, a sequential sale can still benefit the seller as it stimulates competition among forward-looking bidders. This result depends on: (1) the bidder competition intensity, which is characterized by the difference between the number of items available and the number of buyers; and (2) the impatience levels of the auctioneer and the bidders. We also show that when there is uncertainty about the quantity supplied, a high-inventory auctioneer may benefit from using sequential auctions by pretending to be a low-inventory one initially.

Keep it Down: An Experimental Test of the Truncated Uniform Price Auction

The introduction of a centralized institution for trading production rights in quota-regulated agricultural sectors can dramatically improve the flow of information among market participants and increase efficiency. On the other hand, prevailing conditions in these small markets can provide sellers with a market advantage, yielding high quota prices that impose important financial costs on quota holders and limit the entry of new producers into the industry. In this paper, we modify the normal allocation rule of a uniform price auction (UPA) to favor buyers who bid low prices. In laboratory experiments, we test this “Truncated” Uniform Price Auction (T-UPA) against a regular Uniform Price Auction for its ability to decrease equilibrium prices, affect buyer and seller behavior and to assess how it impacts efficiency. The results show that the T-UPA significantly lowers the equilibrium price and results in moderate efficiency losses. Most importantly, the T-UPA effectively counters the market power of oligopolists when demand far outstrips supply.

Properties of Equilibrium Strategies in Multiple-Unit, Uniform-Price Auctions

The paper analyzes the essential properties of bidder equilibrium strategies in the multi-unit uniform-price auction. In the auction the seller offers several identical units for sale, specifies a minimum accepted bid (reservation price) and sets maximum number of bids that any bidder can submit. Under these restrictions bidders use strictly increasing strategies in a symmetric equilibrium more often, and in many cases the reservation price increases the bidder's strategy which is typical in single-unit auctions. Such an auction procedure implies a unique equilibrium strategy in some cases. Thus the number of bid restriction and reservation price present in real-life multi-unit auctions restore some properties of equilibrium strategies typical for single-unit auctions.

Auctions with variable supply: Uniform price versus discriminatory

We examine an auction in which the seller determines the supply after observing the bids. We compare the uniform price and the discriminatory auction in a setting of supply uncertainty, where uncertainty is caused by the interplay of two factors: the seller's private information about marginal cost and the seller's incentive to sell the profit-maximizing quantity, given the received bids. In every symmetric mixed strategy equilibrium, bidders submit higher bids in the uniform price auction than in the discriminatory auction. In the two-bidder case, this result extends to the set of rationalizable strategies. As a consequence, we find that the uniform price auction generates a higher expected revenue for the seller and a higher trade volume.

A double-sided multiunit combinatorial auction for substitutes: Theory and algorithms

Combinatorial exchanges have existed for a long time in securities markets. In these auctions buyers and sellers can place orders on combinations, or bundles of different securities. These orders are conjunctive: they are matched only if the full bundle is available. On business-to-business (B2B) exchanges, buyers have the choice to receive the same product with different attributes; for instance the same product can be produced by different sellers. A buyer indicates his preference by submitting a disjunctive order, where he specifies the quantity he wants of each particular good and what limit price he is willing to pay for each good, thus providing a subjective valuation of each attribute. Only the goods with the best prices will be traded. This article considers a doubled-sided multiunit combinatorial auction for substitutes, that is, a uniform price auction where buyers and sellers place both types of orders, conjunctive (AND orders) and disjunctive (XOR orders). We show that linear competitive prices exist. We also propose an algorithm to clear the market, which is particularly efficient when the number of traders is large, and the goods are divisible.

Collusion in auctions for emission permits: An experimental analysis

AbstractEnvironmental markets have several institutional features that provide a new context for the use of auctions and that have not been studied previously. This paper reports on laboratory experiments testing three auction forms—uniform and discriminatory price sealed‐bid auctions and an ascending clock auction. We test the ability of subjects to tacitly or explicitly collude in order to maximize profits. Our main result is that the discriminatory and uniform price auctions produce greater revenues than the clock auction, both with and without explicit communication. The clock appears to facilitate successful collusion, both because of its sequential structure and because it allows bidders to focus on one dimension of cooperation (quantity) rather than two (price and quantity).© 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Uniform vs. discriminatory auctions with variable supply – experimental evidence

In the variable supply auction considered here, the seller decides how many customers with unit demand to serve after observing their bids. Bidders are uncertain about the seller's cost. We experimentally investigate whether a uniform or a discriminatory price auction is better for the seller in this setting. Exactly as predicted by theory, it turns out that the uniform price auction produces substantially higher bids, and consequently yields higher revenues and profits for the seller. Furthermore, again as predicted by theory, the uniform price auction yields a higher number of transactions, which makes it also the more efficient auction format.

Strategic price discounting and rationing in uniform price auctions

I modify the uniform-price auction rules in allowing the seller to ration bidders. This allows me to provide a strategic foundation for underpricing when the seller has an interest in ownership dispersion. Moreover, many of the so-called “collusive-seeming” equilibria disappear.