IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/restud/v89y2022i5p2630-2662..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal Auctions: Non-expected Utility and Constant Risk Aversion

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Gershkov
  • Benny Moldovanu
  • Philipp Strack
  • Mengxi Zhang

Abstract

We study auction design for bidders equipped with non-expected utility preferences that exhibit constant risk aversion (CRA). The CRA class is large and includes loss-averse, disappointment-averse, mean-dispersion, and Yaari’s dual preferences as well as coherent and convex risk measures. Any preference in this class displays first-order risk aversion, contrasting the standard expected utility case which displays second-order risk aversion. The optimal mechanism offers “ full-insurance” in the sense that each agent’s utility is independent of other agents’ reports. The seller excludes less types than under risk neutrality and awards the object randomly to intermediate types. Subjecting intermediate types to a risky allocation while compensating them when losing allows the seller to collect larger payments from higher types. Relatively high types are willing to pay more, and their allocation is efficient.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Gershkov & Benny Moldovanu & Philipp Strack & Mengxi Zhang, 2022. "Optimal Auctions: Non-expected Utility and Constant Risk Aversion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(5), pages 2630-2662.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:89:y:2022:i:5:p:2630-2662.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdab096
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

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

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Alex Gershkov & Benny Moldovanu & Philipp Strack & Mengxi Zhang, 2023. "Optimal Insurance: Dual Utility, Random Losses and Adverse Selection," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 242, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    2. Alex Gershkov & Benny Moldovanu & Philipp Strack & Mengxi Zhang, 2024. "Optimal Security Design for Risk-Averse Investors," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 325, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.

    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:oup:restud:v:89:y:2022:i:5:p:2630-2662.. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/restud .

    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.