Numerical simulations of asymmetric first-price auctions
Gadi Fibich and
Nir Gavish
Games and Economic Behavior, 2011, vol. 73, issue 2, 479-495
Abstract:
The standard method for computing the equilibrium strategies of asymmetric first-price auctions is the backward-shooting method. In this study we show that the backward-shooting method is inherently unstable, and that this instability cannot be eliminated by changing the numerical methodology of the backward solver. Moreover, this instability becomes more severe as the number of players increases. We then present a novel boundary-value method for computing the equilibrium strategies of asymmetric first-price auctions. We demonstrate the robustness and stability of this method for auctions with any number of players, and for players with mixed types of distributions, including distributions with more than one crossing. Finally, we use the boundary-value method to study large auctions with hundreds of players, to compute the asymptotic rate at which large first-price and second-price auctions become revenue equivalent, and to study auctions in which the distributions cannot be ordered according to first-order stochastic dominance.
Keywords: Asymmetric auctions; Simulations; Stability; Large auctions; Boundary value method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C63 C72 D44 D82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825611000509
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
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:eee:gamebe:v:73:y:2011:i:2:p:479-495
DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2011.02.010
Access Statistics for this article
Games and Economic Behavior is currently edited by E. Kalai
More articles in Games and Economic Behavior from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().