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First-Price Auctions with Budget Constraints

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  • Kotowski, Maciej

    (Harvard Kennedy School)

Abstract

Consider a first-price, sealed-bid auction with interdependent valuations and private budget constraints. Private budget constraints introduce subtle strategic tradeoffs with first-order consequences for equilibrium bidding. In a pure-strategy, symmetric equilibrium, agents may adopt discontinuous bidding strategies resulting in a stratification of competition along the budget dimension. In an asymmetric setting, equilibria in “nondecreasing†strategies exist, albeit in a qualified sense. Private budgets introduce significant confounds for the interpretation of bidding data due to their interaction with risk preferences and their countervailing strategic implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Kotowski, Maciej, 2019. "First-Price Auctions with Budget Constraints," Working Paper Series rwp19-021, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp19-021
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    2. Kotowski, Maciej H., 2020. "First-price auctions with budget constraints," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(1), January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Burkett, Justin, 2016. "Optimally constraining a bidder using a simple budget," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(1), January.
    2. Bobkova, Nina, 2020. "Asymmetric budget constraints in a first-price auction," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    3. Kotowski, Maciej H., 2020. "First-price auctions with budget constraints," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(1), January.
    4. Charles Z. Zheng, 2014. "Existence of Monotone Equilibria in First-Price Auctions with Resale," University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20141, University of Western Ontario, Economic Policy Research Institute.
    5. Kotowski, Maciej & Li, Fei, 2011. "All-Pay Auctions with Budget Constraints," MPRA Paper 30468, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Kotowski, Maciej H. & Li, Fei, 2014. "On the continuous equilibria of affiliated-value, all-pay auctions with private budget constraints," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 84-108.
    7. Zhonghao Shui, 2023. "Rejection prices and an auctioneer with non-monotonic utility," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 52(3), pages 925-951, September.
    8. Groh, Carl-Christian & Reuter, Marco, 2023. "Mechanism design for unequal societies," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-050, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Lu Han & Chandler Lutz & Benjamin Sand & Derek Stacey, 2018. "Do Financial Constraints Cool a Housing Boom?," Working Papers 073, Toronto Metropolitan University, Department of Economics.
    10. Maciej H. Kotowski & Fei Li, 2012. "On the Continuous Equilibria of Affiliated-Value, All-Pay Auctions with Private Budget Constraints, Second Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 13-043, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 05 Aug 2013.
    11. Santiago Balseiro & Christian Kroer & Rachitesh Kumar, 2021. "Contextual Standard Auctions with Budgets: Revenue Equivalence and Efficiency Guarantees," Papers 2102.10476, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    12. Savas Dayanik & Semih O. Sezer, 2023. "Optimal dynamic multi-keyword bidding policy of an advertiser in search-based advertising," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 97(1), pages 25-56, February.
    13. Ulrich Bergmann & Arkady Konovalov, 2024. "Auction design and order of sale with budget-constrained bidders," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 27(1), pages 36-57, March.
    14. Jinsoo Bae & John H. Kagel, 2022. "Selling shares to budget-constrained bidders: an experimental study of the proportional auction," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 8(1), pages 45-55, December.
    15. Carbajal, Juan Carlos & Mu'alem, Ahuva, 2020. "Selling mechanisms for a financially constrained buyer," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 386-405.
    16. Maciej H. Kotowski & Fei Li, 2012. "On the Continuous Equilibria of Affiliated-Value, All-Pay Auctions with Private Budget Constraints, Third Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 14-001, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 10 Jan 2014.
    17. Ghosh, Gagan, 2021. "Simultaneous auctions with budgets: Equilibrium existence and characterization," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 75-93.
    18. Cao, Xiaoyong & Wang, Wei, 2024. "First-price auctions with unobservable entry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    19. Jianfu Shen & Frederik Pretorius & K. W. Chau, 2018. "Land Auctions with Budget Constraints," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 443-471, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions

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