We analyze strategic leaks due to spying out a rival’s bid in a first-price auction. Such leaks induce sequential bidding, complicated by the fact that the spy may be a counterspy who serves the interests of the spied at bidder and reports strategically distorted information. This ambiguity...

The transition of the advertising market from traditional media to the internet has induced a proliferation of marketing agencies specialized in bidding in the auctions that are used to sell ad space on the web. We analyze how collusive bidding can emerge from bid delegation to a common...

We propose a structural method for estimating the revenue losses associated with bidding rings in symmetric and asymmetric first-price auctions. It is based on the structural analysis of auction data and is consistent with antitrust damage assessment methodologies: we build a but-for...