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Bimodal Bidding in Experimental All-Pay Auctions

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  • Christiane Ernst
  • Christian Thöni

Abstract

We report results from experimental first-price, sealed-bid, all-pay auctions for a good with a common and known value. We observe bidding strategies in groups of two and three bidders and under two extreme information conditions. As predicted by the Nash equilibrium, subjects use mixed strategies. In contrast to the prediction under standard assumptions bids are drawn from a bimodal distribution: very high and very low bids are much more frequent than intermediate bids. Standard risk preferences cannot account for our results. However, bidding behavior is consistent with the predictions of a model with reference dependent preferences as proposed by the prospect theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Christiane Ernst & Christian Thöni, 2009. "Bimodal Bidding in Experimental All-Pay Auctions," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2009 2009-25, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
  • Handle: RePEc:usg:dp2009:2009-25
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    Cited by:

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    2. Baptiste Massenot & Maria Maraki & Christian Thoeni, 2016. "Legal compliance and litigation spending under the English and American rule: Experimental evidence," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 16.19, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    3. Dietmar Fehr & Julia Schmid, 2018. "Exclusion in all‐pay auctions: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 326-339, June.
    4. Oliver Kirchkamp & Wladislaw Mill, 2019. "Spite vs. risk: explaining overbidding," CESifo Working Paper Series 7631, CESifo.
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    6. Astrid Gamba & Luca Stanca, 2023. "Mis-judging merit: the effects of adjudication errors in contests," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(3), pages 550-587, July.
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    8. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Joo Young Jeon & Abhijit Ramalingam, 2018. "Property Rights And Loss Aversion In Contests," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1492-1511, July.
    9. Adriana Breaban & Charles N. Noussair & Andreea Victoria Popescu, 2018. "Your money or your time? Experimental evidence on overbidding in all-pay auctions," Working Papers 18-20, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    10. Kirchkamp, Oliver & Mill, Wladislaw, 2021. "Spite vs. risk: Explaining overbidding in the second-price all-pay auction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 616-635.
    11. Emmanuel Dechenaux & Shakun D. Mago, 2023. "Contests with revisions," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(4), pages 915-954, September.
    12. James W. Boudreau & Haikady N. Nagaraja & Lucas Rentschler & Shane D. Sanders, 2024. "The role of luck in political and economic competition: noisy all-pay auctions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 199(1), pages 137-157, April.
    13. Alan Gelder & Dan Kovenock & Roman Sheremeta, 2015. "Behavior in All-Pay Auctions with Ties," Working Papers 15-22, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    14. Daniel G. Stephenson & Alexander L. Brown, 2021. "Playing the field in all-pay auctions," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 24(2), pages 489-514, June.
    15. Foster, Joshua, 2020. "Loss aversion and sunk cost sensitivity in all-pay auctions for charity: Theory and experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Fehr, Dietmar & Schmid, Julia, 2011. "Exclusion in the all-pay auction: An experimental investigation," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2011-009, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    17. Tracy Xiao Liu, 2018. "All-pay auctions with endogenous bid timing: an experimental study," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 47(1), pages 247-271, March.
    18. (Charlie) Chen, Zhuoqiong & Ong, David & Sheremeta, Roman, 2022. "Competition between and within universities: Theoretical and experimental investigation of group identity and the desire to win," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
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    20. Popescu, Andreea Victoria, 2020. "Essays in asset pricing and auctions," Other publications TiSEM 879f7643-7123-4bc8-a5e7-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    All-pay Auction; Prospect Theory; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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