Should a seller with private information sell the best or worst goods first? Considering the sequential auction of two stochastically equivalent goods, we find that the seller has an incentive to impress buyers by selling the better good first because the seller's sequencing strategy endogenously generates correlation in the values of the goods across periods. When this impression effect is strong enough, selling the better good first is the unique pure-strategy equilibrium. By credibly revealing to all buyers the seller's ranking of the goods, an equilibrium strategy of sequencing the goods reduces buyer information rents and increases expected revenues in accordance with the linkage principle. Ordering information: This article can be ordered from http://gemini.econ.umd.edu/cgi-bin/rje_online.cgi?action=view&year=2006&issue=spr&page=176.
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Bernhardt, Dan & Scoones, David, 1993.
"A Note on Sequential Auctions,"
Working Papers
829, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
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Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Archishman Chakraborty & Rick Harbaugh, 2004.
"Comparative Cheap Talk,"
Working Papers
2004-08, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
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Other versions:
Archishman Chakraborty & Rick Harbaugh, 2006.
"Clearly Biased Experts,"
Working Papers
2006-10, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
[Downloadable!]