In negotiated transactions the act of choosing trading partners and “who chooses” creates a bargaining culture that influences trading behavior. Results are presented from experimental markets in which paired buyers and sellers negotiate the repeated sale of units. Relative to a market...

The primary pro-competitive justification for multiple principals to hire a common bidding agent is efficiency. The efficiency gained by doing so increases the advantage of the common bidding agent. Almost common value auction theory predicts that an advantaged bidder is able to reduce...

Using bilateral bargaining data from laboratory experimental markets, this paper demonstrates how common knowledge about price averages from past bargains impacts current negotiated prices. This common information creates an endogenous and declining anchor for bargaining agents. The culture of...