American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Efficiency and Information Aggregation in Auctions
American Economic Review
vol. 90,
no. 3, June 2000
(pp. 499–525)
Abstract
The tension between allocative efficiency and information aggregation is explored in the context of an auction: k identical objects of unknown quality are auctioned off to n bidders whose tastes affect their valuation of an object of given quality. Bidders receive a signal about the quality of the objects. The k highest bidders get an object and pay a price equal to the k + first highest bid. We find conditions under which, in the limit, objects are allocated efficiently to those with the highest tastes, and price converges in probability to the value of an object to the marginal taste type.Citation
Pesendorfer, Wolfgang, and Jeroen M. Swinkels. 2000. "Efficiency and Information Aggregation in Auctions." American Economic Review, 90 (3): 499–525. DOI: 10.1257/aer.90.3.499JEL Classification
- D44 Auctions
- D82 Asymmetric and Private Information