IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v203y2010i1p251-260.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Allocative efficiency in simulated multiple-unit combinatorial auctions with quantity support

Author

Listed:
  • Ervasti, Valtteri
  • Leskelä, Riikka-Leena

Abstract

We study the behavior of the Quantity Support Mechanism, a support tool, which suggests new bids for bidders in semi-sealed-bid combinatorial auctions. The support tool gives bidders a shortlist of provisionally winning bids (price-quantity combinations) they can choose from. We conducted a series of simulations to test the efficiency of the final allocations in the auctions. Our results indicate that quantity support auctions are more efficient than auctions without it, although the theoretical optimum is not always reached. Also, in our experiments, quantity support auctions led to a lower total cost to the buyer than non-combinatorial auctions, where the items were auctioned individually. The simulation results also show that the QSM cannot entirely overcome the threshold problem and what we call the "puzzle problem".

Suggested Citation

  • Ervasti, Valtteri & Leskelä, Riikka-Leena, 2010. "Allocative efficiency in simulated multiple-unit combinatorial auctions with quantity support," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(1), pages 251-260, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:203:y:2010:i:1:p:251-260
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377-2217(09)00480-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aleksandar Pekev{c} & Michael H. Rothkopf, 2003. "Combinatorial Auction Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1485-1503, November.
    2. Anthony M. Kwasnica & John O. Ledyard & Dave Porter & Christine DeMartini, 2005. "A New and Improved Design for Multiobject Iterative Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 419-434, March.
    3. de Vries, Sven & Schummer, James & Vohra, Rakesh V., 2007. "On ascending Vickrey auctions for heterogeneous objects," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 95-118, January.
    4. Michael H. Rothkopf & Aleksandar Pekev{c} & Ronald M. Harstad, 1998. "Computationally Manageable Combinational Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(8), pages 1131-1147, August.
    5. R. H. Kwon & G. Anandalingam & L. H. Ungar, 2005. "Iterative Combinatorial Auctions with Bidder-Determined Combinations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 407-418, March.
    6. Sven de Vries & Rakesh V. Vohra, 2003. "Combinatorial Auctions: A Survey," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 15(3), pages 284-309, August.
    7. Edward Clarke, 1971. "Multipart pricing of public goods," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 17-33, September.
    8. Emiel Maasland & Sander Onderstal, 2006. "Going, Going, Gone! A Swift Tour of Auction Theory and its Applications," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 197-249, June.
    9. William Vickrey, 1961. "Counterspeculation, Auctions, And Competitive Sealed Tenders," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 16(1), pages 8-37, March.
    10. John McMillan, 1994. "Selling Spectrum Rights," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 145-162, Summer.
    11. Teich, Jeffrey E. & Wallenius, Hannele & Wallenius, Jyrki & Zaitsev, Alexander, 2006. "A multi-attribute e-auction mechanism for procurement: Theoretical foundations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(1), pages 90-100, November.
    12. Groves, Theodore, 1973. "Incentives in Teams," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(4), pages 617-631, July.
    13. Tuomas Sandholm & Subhash Suri & Andrew Gilpin & David Levine, 2005. "CABOB: A Fast Optimal Algorithm for Winner Determination in Combinatorial Auctions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 374-390, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gang Ma & Zhengming Zhou & Shilei Wang & Ke Zhou & Junjun Zheng & Chujian Wang, 2023. "Combinatorial Auction of Used Cars Considering Pro-Environment Attribute: A Social Welfare Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Gülşah Karakaya & Murat Köksalan, 2016. "An interactive approach for Bi-attribute multi-item auctions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 245(1), pages 97-119, October.
    3. Schellhorn, Henry, 2011. "A trading mechanism contingent on several indices," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 213(3), pages 551-558, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jawad Abrache & Teodor Crainic & Michel Gendreau & Monia Rekik, 2007. "Combinatorial auctions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 131-164, September.
    2. G. Anandalingam & Robert W. Day & S. Raghavan, 2005. "The Landscape of Electronic Market Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 316-327, March.
    3. Drexl, Andreas & Jørnsten, Kurt & Knof, Diether, 2007. "Column aggregation-based pricing combinatorial auctions," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 624, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    4. Mishra, Debasis & Parkes, David C., 2007. "Ascending price Vickrey auctions for general valuations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 335-366, January.
    5. A Drexl & K Jørnsten, 2007. "Reflections about pseudo-dual prices in combinatorial auctions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(12), pages 1652-1659, December.
    6. Park, Sunju & Rothkopf, Michael H., 2005. "Auctions with bidder-determined allowable combinations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 399-415, March.
    7. Vohra, Rakesh V., 2015. "Combinatorial Auctions," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    8. Drexl, Andreas & Jørnsten, Kurt & Knof, Diether, 2009. "Non-linear anonymous pricing combinatorial auctions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 199(1), pages 296-302, November.
    9. Henry Schellhorn, 2004. "A Double-Sided Multiunit Combinatorial Auction for Substitutes: Theory and Algorithms," FAME Research Paper Series rp123, International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering.
    10. Ravi Bapna & Sanjukta Das & Robert Garfinkel & Jan Stallaert, 2008. "A Market Design for Grid Computing," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 100-111, February.
    11. Soumyakanti Chakraborty & Anup K. Sen & Amitava Bagchi, 2015. "Addressing the valuation problem in multi-round combinatorial auctions," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1145-1160, October.
    12. Lehmann, Benny & Lehmann, Daniel & Nisan, Noam, 2006. "Combinatorial auctions with decreasing marginal utilities," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 270-296, May.
    13. Schnizler, Bjorn & Neumann, Dirk & Veit, Daniel & Weinhardt, Christof, 2008. "Trading grid services - a multi-attribute combinatorial approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(3), pages 943-961, June.
    14. Lawrence M. Ausubel & Peter Cramton & Paul Milgrom, 2012. "System and Method for a Hybrid Clock and Proxy Auction," Papers of Peter Cramton 12acmhc, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 2012.
    15. Ronald M. Harstad & Aleksandar Saša Pekeč, 2008. "Relevance to Practice and Auction Theory: A Memorial Essay for Michael Rothkopf," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 38(5), pages 367-380, October.
    16. Kemal Guler & Martin Bichler & Ioannis Petrakis, 2016. "Ascending Combinatorial Auctions with Risk Averse Bidders," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 609-639, May.
    17. Michael H. Rothkopf, 2007. "Thirteen Reasons Why the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves Process Is Not Practical," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 191-197, April.
    18. Schellhorn, Henry, 2009. "A double-sided multiunit combinatorial auction for substitutes: Theory and algorithms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(2), pages 799-808, September.
    19. Elendner, Thomas & Femerling, R., 2003. "Allocation of in-house services: Experimental comparison of allocation mechanisms," Manuskripte aus den Instituten für Betriebswirtschaftslehre der Universität Kiel 577, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre.
    20. Yan Chen & Peter Cramton & John A. List & Axel Ockenfels, 2021. "Market Design, Human Behavior, and Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5317-5348, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:203:y:2010:i:1:p:251-260. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.