Price instability in multi-unit auctions

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Theory
Year: 2018
Volume: 175
Issue: C
Pages: 318-341

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We consider a uniform-price procurement auction with indivisible units and private independent costs. We find an explicit solution for a Bayesian Nash equilibrium, which is unique if demand shocks are sufficiently evenly distributed. The equilibrium has a price instability in the sense that a minor change in a supplier's realized cost can result in a drastic change in the market price. We quantify the resulting volatility and show that it is reduced as the size of indivisible units decreases. In the limit, the equilibrium converges to the Supply Function Equilibrium (SFE) for divisible goods if costs are common knowledge.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jetheo:v:175:y:2018:i:c:p:318-341
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-02-02