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Getting Carried Away in Auctions as Imperfect Value Discovery

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  • Eric Rasmusen

    (Department of Business Economics and Public Policy, Indiana University Kelley School of Business)

Abstract

Bidders in auctions must decide whether and when to incur the cost of estimating the most they are willing to pay. This can explain why people seem to get carried away, bidding higher than they had planned before the auction and then finding they had paid more than the object was worth to them. Even when such behavior is rational, ex ante, it may be perceived as irrational if one ignores other situations in which people revise their bid ceilings upwards and are happy when that enables them to win the auction.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Rasmusen, 2007. "Getting Carried Away in Auctions as Imperfect Value Discovery," Working Papers 2007-05, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:iuk:wpaper:2007-05
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    File URL: http://kelley.iu.edu/riharbau/RePEc/iuk/wpaper/bepp2007-05-rasmusen.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jeremy Bulow & Paul Klemperer, 2002. "Prices and the Winner's Curse," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(1), pages 1-21, Spring.
    2. Eric Rasmusen, 2007. "When Does Extra Risk Strictly Increase an Option's Value?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1647-1667, 2007 14.
    3. Rasmusen Eric Bennett, 2001. "Explaining Incomplete Contracts as the Result of Contract-Reading Costs," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-39, October.
    4. Alvin E. Roth & Axel Ockenfels, 2002. "Last-Minute Bidding and the Rules for Ending Second-Price Auctions: Evidence from eBay and Amazon Auctions on the Internet," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1093-1103, September.
    5. John Asker, 2000. "Bidding up, buying out and cooling-off: an examination of auctions with withdrawal rights," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 16(3), pages 585-611.
    6. Nicola Persico, 2000. "Information Acquisition in Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(1), pages 135-148, January.
    7. Eric Rasmusen, 2004. "When Does Extra Risk Strictly Increase the Value of Options?," Finance 0409004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Rasmusen Eric Bennett, 2006. "Strategic Implications of Uncertainty over One's Own Private Value in Auctions," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rasmusen Eric Bennett, 2006. "Strategic Implications of Uncertainty over One's Own Private Value in Auctions," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, November.

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