Price instability in multi-unit auctions
File(s)Anderson Holmberg final.pdf (528.82 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Anderson, Edward
Holmberg, Par
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We consider a uniform-price procurement auction with indivisible units and private independent costs. We find an explicit solution for a Bayesian Nash equilibrium, which is unique if demand shocks are sufficiently evenly distributed. The equilibrium has a price instability in the sense that a minor change in a supplier's realized cost can result in a drastic change in the market price. We quantify the resulting volatility and show that it is reduced as the size of indivisible units decreases. In the limit, the equilibrium converges to the Supply Function Equilibrium (SFE) for divisible goods if costs are common knowledge.
Date Issued
2018-05-01
Date Acceptance
2018-01-18
Citation
Journal of Economic Theory, 2018, 175, pp.318-341
ISSN
0022-0531
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
318
End Page
341
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Economic Theory
Volume
175
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000432416900012&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Social Sciences
Economics
Business & Economics
Multi-unit auctions
Indivisible unit
Price instability
Supply function equilibria
Convergence of Nash equilibria
Wholesale electricity markets
SUPPLY FUNCTION EQUILIBRIA
DIVISIBLE-GOOD AUCTIONS
ELECTRICITY MARKETS
EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS
NASH EQUILIBRIA
COMPETITION
GENERATION
OLIGOPOLY
INFERENCE
POWER
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-02-08