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Introduction to Auctions. David M. Pennock. Going once, … going twice,. Auctions: yesterday. Ebay: 4 million auctions 450k new/day >800 others auctionrover.com biddersedge.com. Auctions: today. Auctions: yesterday vs. today. What is an auction?.
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Introduction to Auctions David M. Pennock
Going once, … going twice, ... Auctions: yesterday
Ebay: 4 million auctions 450k new/day >800 others auctionrover.com biddersedge.com Auctions: today
What is an auction? • Definition [McAfee & McMillan, JEL 1987]: • a market institution with an • explicit set of rules • determining resource allocation and prices • on the basis of bids from the market participants. • Examples:
B2B auctions and ecommerce • Online B2B marketplaces have been established recently for more than a dozen major industries, including the automotive; pharmaceuticals; scientific supplies; asset management; building and construction; plastics and chemicals; steel and metals; computer; credit and financing; energy; news and information; and livestock sectors. • Reuters March 29, 2000
Why auctions? • For object of unknown value • Flexible • Dynamic • Mechanized • reduces complexity of negotiations • ideal for computer implementation • Economically efficient!
Taxonomy of common auctions • Open auctions • English • Dutch • Sealed-bid auctions • first price • second price (Vickrey) • Mth price, M+1st price • continuous double auction
Open One item for sale Auctioneer begins low; typically with seller’s reserve price Buyers call out bids to beat the current price Last buyer remaining wins;pays the price that (s)he bid English auction
Dutch auction • Open • One item for sale • Auctioneer begins high;above the maximum foreseeable bid • Auctioneer lowers price in increments • First buyer willing to accept price wins;pays last announced price • less information
Sealed-bid first price auction • All buyers submit their bids privately • buyer with the highest bid wins;pays the price (s)he bid $150 $120 $90 $50
Sealed-bid second price auction (Vickrey) • All buyers submit their bids privately • buyer with the highest bid wins;pays the price of the second highest bid Only pays $120 $150 $120 $90 $50
Incentive compatibility • Telling the truth is optimal in second-price auction • Suppose your value for the item is $100;if you win, your net gain (loss) is $100 - price • If you bid more than $100: • you increase your chances of winning at price >$100 • you do not improve your chance of winning for < $100 • If you bid less than $100: • you reduce your chances of winning at price < $100 • there is no effect on the price you pay if you do win • Dominant optimal strategy: bid $100 • Key: the price you pay is out of your control
Collusion • Notice that, if some bidders collude, they might do better by lying (e.g., by forming a ring) • In general, essentially all auctions are subject to some sort of manipulation by collusion among buyers, sellers, and/or auctioneer.
Revenue equivalence • Which auction is best for the seller? • In second-price auction, buyer pays < bid • In first-price auction, buyers “shade” bids • Theorem: • expected revenue for seller is the same! • requires technical assumptions on buyers, including “independent private values” • English = 2nd price; Dutch = 1st price
Mth price auction • English, Dutch, 1st price, 2nd price:N buyers and 1 seller • Generalize to N buyers and M sellers • Mth price auction: • sort all bids from buyers and sellers • price = the Mth highest bid • let n = # of buy offers >= price • let m = # of sell offers <= price • let x = min(n,m) • the x highest buy offers and x lowest sell offers win
Buy offers (N=4) Sell offers (M=5) Mth price auction $300 $150 $170 $120 $130 $90 $110 $50 $80
Sell offers (M=5) Buy offers (N=4) Mth price auction 1 $300 $170 2 $150 3 $130 4 price = $120 $120 5 $110 $90 $80 $50 • Winning buyers/sellers
Sell offers (M=5) Buy offers (N=4) M+1st price auction 1 $300 $170 2 $150 3 $130 4 $120 5 price = $110 $110 6 $90 $80 $50 • Winning buyers/sellers
Incentive compatibility • M+1st price auction is incentive compatible for buyers • buyers’ dominant strategy is to bid truthfully • M=1 is Vickrey second-price auction • Mth price auction is incentive compatible for sellers • sellers’ dominate strategy is to make offers truthfully
Impossibility • Essentially no auction whatsoever can be simultaneously incentive compatible for both buyers and sellers! • if buyers are induce to reveal their true values, then sellers have incentive to lie, and vice versa • the only way to get both to tell the truth is to have some outside party subsidize the auction
Sell offers (M=5) Buy offers (N=4) k-double auction 1 $300 $170 2 $150 3 $130 4 price = $110 + $10*k $120 5 $110 6 $90 $80 $50 • Winning buyers/sellers
Continuous double auction • k-double auction repeated continuously over time • buyers and sellers continually place offers • as soon as a buy offer > a sell offer, a transaction occurs • At any given time, there is no overlap btw highest buy offer & lowest sell offer
Winner’s curse • Common, unknown value for item (e.g., potential oil drilling site) • Most overly optimistic bidder wins; true value is probably less
Combinatorial auctions • E.g.: spectrum rights, computer system, … • n goods bids allowed 2n combinations Maximizing revenue: NP-hard (set packing) • Enter computer scientists (hot topic)...
Prediction auctionsIowa Electronic Markets http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem $1 if Hillary Clinton wins $1 if Rick Lazio wins $1 if Rudy Giuliani wins
Prediction auction gamesHollywood Stock Exchange http://www.hsx.com/
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