Analysis of the difference between the lowest and second lowest bids, or bid-spread, in a ‘lowest wins’ auction is of possible value in strategic bidding; providing an indication of mistakes in bids; determining a justifiable amount of bid security; and a means of providing some insight into...

We use a two-person linear voluntary contribution mechanism with stochastic marginal benefits from the public good to examine the effect of imperfect information on contributions levels. To assess prior risk attitudes, individual valuations of several risky prospects are elicited via a...

We generalize the Vickrey auction to allow for reserve pricing in a multi-unit auction with interdependent values. In the Vickrey auction with reserve pricing, the seller determines the quantity to be made available as a function of the bidders' reports of private information, and then...

The difference between people's valuations of gains and losses has been widely observed in both single trial and repeated trial experiments, as well as in survey responses and in commonplace behavior. However, the results of some Vickrey auction experiments indicate that the disparity may...

Every day on eBay, millions of people buy and sell a vast array of goods, from rare collectibles and antiques to used cars and celebrity memorabilia. The internet auction site is remarkably easy to use, which accounts in part for its huge popularity. But how does eBay really work, and how does...

Many auctions involve the sale of heterogenous indivisible objects. Examples are wireless spectrum, delivery routes and airport time slots. Because of complementarities or substitution effects between the objects, bidders have preferences not just over individual items but over subsets of them....