This primer rigorously introduces the auction model of "risk neutral bidders with independent private values". The model is central to auction theory, and its structure is the same as a many models used in information economics. Results are derived regarding the nature of equilibria, the effects...

The paper analyzes a first price, sealed bid auction with a random reservation price where the object has an unknown common value, but one buyer has better information than the others. We permit the reservation price to be correlated with the information of the informed buyer, which reflects...

We examine the consequences of vote buying, assuming this practice were allowed and free of stigma. Two parties competing in a binary election may purchase votes in a sequential bidding game via up-front binding payments and/or campaign promises (platforms) that are contingent upon the outcome...