An item is being sold in a first-price sealed-bid auction. There are n> 1 risk neutral bidders. Bidders have private values. Suppose that, prior to the auction, the seller can invest in advertising that affects bidders' private values in a predictable way. If the seller spends a > 0 on advertising, then this results in bidders' private values being independent and uniformly distributed on an interval [0, 7], where ū = √√a. The seller is risk neutral and there are no other costs involved in auctioning the item. a) Explain and derive the optimal advertising expenditure for the seller. b) How would the results from a) change if the item were instead sold using a second-price auction?

An item is being sold in a first-price sealed-bid auction. There are n> 1 risk neutral bidders. Bidders have private values. Suppose that, prior to the auction, the seller can invest in advertising that affects bidders' private values in a predictable way. If the seller spends a > 0 on advertising, then this results in bidders' private values being independent and uniformly distributed on an interval [0, 7], where ū = √√a. The seller is risk neutral and there are no other costs involved in auctioning the item. a) Explain and derive the optimal advertising expenditure for the seller. b) How would the results from a) change if the item were instead sold using a second-price auction?

Microeconomic Theory

12th Edition

ISBN:9781337517942

Author:NICHOLSON

Publisher:NICHOLSON

Chapter7: Uncertainty

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 7.3P

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

There are three bidders participating in a first-price auction for a painting. Each bidder has a private, independent value vi for such a painting that is drawn uniformly from [0,1] Assume that each bidder i has a linear bidding function bi=avi, where a>0. What is the bidding strategy of bidder i , namely bi in the Bayesian equilibrium?
The mixed stratergy nash equalibrium consists of : the probability of firm A selecting October is 0.692 and probability of firm A selecting December is 0.309. The probability of firm B selecting October is 0.5 and probability of firm selecting December is 0.5. In the equilibrium you calculated above, what is the probability that both consoles are released in October? In December? What are the expected payoffs of firm A and of firm B in equilibrium?
(ii) A mixed strategy profile (p, q) is one in which p = (p,P2.... P) is the mixed strategy of player 1, and q- (g1, q2,..q4) is the mixed strategy of player 2. Show that if p, >0 in a Nash equilibrium profile (p*, q*), the player 2 must also play i with strictly positive probability q'; > 0. (State clearly any theorem you use to show this. You are not required to justify the theorem.) %3D
Assume you are one of the two bidders in a second-price sealed bid auction for a preserved grilled cheese sandwich which purportedly bore the portrait of the Virgin Mary: • This sandwich is worth $8000 to you. • You know that your rival bidder’s valuation is uniformly distributed between $0 and $12,000. a) What is the probability that your bid exceeds your rival’s bid given that you know your rival’s valuation is uniformly distributed between $0 and $12,000? (In other words, what is the probability that your rival’s bid is lower than your valuation?) Remember the equilibrium bidding strategies for a SPA in weakly dominant strategies ! b) What is your rival’s average bid, if you win the auction (considering that he must have bid below your bid)? c) What is your expected payoff from this auction, if you win the bidding ? (Hint: Combine b) and c), i.e. compute the payoff from winning giving the probability of winning)
A recently discovered painting by Picasso is on auction at Sotheby's. There are two main bidders Amy and Ben {1,2}. Bidding starts at £10M but the value of the painting is certainly not more than £20M. Each bidder's valuation v; is independently and uni- formly distributed on the interval [10M, 20M], and this is common knowledge among the players: A bidder knows their own valuation but not of their opponent. Consider an auction where an object is allocated to the highest bidder but the price paid by the bidder is determined randomly. With probability 3/4, the bidder pays their own bid, and with probability 1/4 the bidder pays the losing bid. The person bidding lowest pays nothing. If the bids are equal, each bidder gets the object with probability one-half, and in this case, pays their bid. Suppose that bidder 1 assumes that bidder 2 will bid a constant fraction, 7, of bidder 2's valuation (and similarly, bidder 2 assumes bidder 1 will bid the same constant propor- tional value of…
Consider 5 bidders whose values are independently and uniformly distributed over [0, 900] (a) For a buyer with value 100, what is his equilibrium bid in a first-price auction (FPA)?
Assume that two collectors, X and Y are in a first prize sealed bid auction for a batch of vintage comic books. X and Y have different valuations (V) for this batch of comic books e.g. VX And VB are between $2000 and $4000. Both collectors know their own V but does not know the V of the other collector. All they know is that the other collector’s V is a uniformly distributed number between $2000 and $4000. Assume risk neutrality for X and Y e.g. expected payoff for X is: (VX – bX)Pr(bX) and expected payoff for Y is (VY – bY)Pr(bY). These collectors will make their bids strategically. Show how X’s bidding strategy is bX = ½ Vx + 1 and Y’s is bY = ½ Vy +1 in a Nash equilibrium.
Consider a first-price sealed bid auction of a single object with two bidders j = 1,2 and no reservation price. Bidder 1′s valuation is v1 = 2, and bidder 2′s valuation is Consider the following auction. Two buyers (i = 1,2) have valuations uni- formly distributed over [0,1]. The good is assigned to the highest bid, but the winner pays the average of his bid and the losing bid. Use the revenue equivalence principle to derive the optimal strategies in a symmetric equilibrium. Assume that the optimal bid is a linear function of the buyer’s valuation: b(vi) = cvi where c is a real number.In the event of a tie, the object is awarded by a flip of a fair coin
You are one of five risk-neutral bidders participating in an independent private values auction. Each bidder perceives that bidders' valuations for the item are evenly distributed between $20,000 and $50,000. For each of the following auction t determine your optimal bidding strategy if you value the item at $35,000. a. First-price, sealed-bid auction. O Bid $20,00. O Bid $50,00. O Bid $35,00. O Bid $32,000 b. Dutch auction O Let the auctioneer continue to lower the price until it reaches $20,000, and then yell "Minel". O Let the auctioneer continue to lower the price until it reaches $35.000, and then yell "Mine!" O Let the auctioneer continue to lower the price until it reaches $32,000, and then yell "Mine!" O Let the auctioneer continue to lower the price until it reaches $50,000, and then yell "Mine!". C. ond-price, sealed-bid auction O Bid $50,00. O Bid $35.000 O Bid $32,00. b. Dutch auction. O Let the auctioneer continue to lower the price until it reaches $20,000, and then yell…
Imagine that a zealous prosecutor (P) has accused a defendant (D) of committing a crime. Suppose that the trial involves evidence production by bothparties and that by producing evidence, a litigant increases the probabilityof winning the trial. Specifically, suppose that the probability that the defendant wins is given by eD>(eD + eP), where eD is the expenditure on evidenceproduction by the defendant and eP is the expenditure on evidence production by the prosecutor. Assume that eD and eP are greater than or equal to0. The defendant must pay 8 if he is found guilty, whereas he pays 0 if heis found innocent. The prosecutor receives 8 if she wins and 0 if she losesthe case. (a) Represent this game in normal form.(b) Write the first-order condition and derive the best-response function foreach player.(c) Find the Nash equilibrium of this game. What is the probability that thedefendant wins in equilibrium.(d) Is this outcome efficient? Why?
A seller will run a second-price, sealed-bid auction for an object. There are two bidders, a and b, who have independent, private values v; which are either 0 or 1. For both bidders the probabilities of v; = 0 and v; = 1 are each 1/2. Both bidders understand the auction, but bidder b sometimes makes a mistake about his value for the object. %3| Half of the time his value is 1 and he is aware that it is 1; the other half of the time his value is 0 but occasionally he mistakenly believes that his value is 1. Let's suppose that when b's value is 0 he acts as if it is 1 with probability 1/2 and as if it is zero with 2 probability. So in effect bidder b sees value 0 with probability 1/4 and value 1 with probability 4. Bidder a never makes mistakes about his value for the object, but he is aware of the mistakes that bidder b makes. Both bidders bid optimally given their perceptions of the value of the object. Assume that if there is a tie at a bid of x for the highest bid the winner is…
There are N>=2 collectors who engage in the auction of an antique. The collectorshave a common valuation of the antique, denoted by v, which is known to all. Thecollectors make a simultaneous bid. Let pn denote the bid by collector n = 1,....,N. The one with the highest bid wins the antique. The winner receives payoff v-pi.The other(s) receive zero payoff. If more than one collectors make the same highestbid, then they have an equal chance of winning the item. Prove that: A) It is not a Nash Equilibrium (NE) if the highest bid is v and onlyone collector bids this price.(b) It is not a NE if the highest bid is less than v.(c) It is a NE that the highest bid is v and more than one collector bidsthis price