A Comparison of Multiple-Unit All-Pay and Winner-Pay Auctions under Incomplete Information

Yasar Barut, Dan Kovenock and Charles N. Noussair

No 1999-01, Experimental Economics Center Working Paper Series from Experimental Economics Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University

Abstract: This paper examines the properties of independent-private-value all-pay and winner-pay auctions when there are multiple units sold. We study bidding behavior, efficiency and revenue in a set of nine experimental sessions, each with six bidders. All-pay auctions were played in six of the sessions, three sessions with four units and three sessions with two units auctioned. A four-unit winner-pay auction was played in three of the sessions. Our data show that the all-pay auction and the winner-pay auction are empirically revenue equivalent and yield higher revenue than the risk neutral Bayesian equilibrium. Revenue is higher in the all-pay auction when K=2 than when K=4, despite the fact that Bayesian equilibrium revenues are identical for the two cases. Our evidence also suggests that the winner-pay auction is more likely than the all-pay auction to lead to a Pareto-efficient allocation.

Pages: 56
Date: 1999-07
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://excen.gsu.edu/workingpapers/GSU_EXCEN_WP_1999-01.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:exc:wpaper:1999-01

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Experimental Economics Center Working Paper Series from Experimental Economics Center, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by J. Todd Swarthout ().