Information Structures in Optimal Auctions

48 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2001

See all articles by Dirk Bergemann

Dirk Bergemann

Yale University - Cowles Foundation - Department of Economics; Yale University - Cowles Foundation

Martin Pesendorfer

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 2001

Abstract

A seller wishes to sell an object to one of multiple bidders. The valuations of the bidders are privately known. We consider the joint design problem in which the seller can decide the accuracy by which bidders learn their valuation and to whom to sell at what price. We establish that optimal information structures in an optimal auction exhibit a number of properties: (i) information structures can be represented by monotone partitions, (ii) the cardinality of each partition is finite, (iii) the partitions are asymmetric across agents. These properties imply that the optimal selling strategy of a seller can be implemented by a sequence of exclusive take-it or leave-it offers.

Keywords: Optimal Auction, Private Values, Information Structures, Partitions

JEL Classification: C72, D44, D82, D83

Suggested Citation

Bergemann, Dirk and Pesendorfer, Martin, Information Structures in Optimal Auctions (September 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=285167

Dirk Bergemann (Contact Author)

Yale University - Cowles Foundation - Department of Economics ( email )

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203-432-3592 (Phone)
203-432-2128 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.econ.yale.edu/~dirk/

Yale University - Cowles Foundation

Box 208281
New Haven, CT 06520-8281
United States

Martin Pesendorfer

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
+44 20 7955 6783 (Phone)
+44 20 7831 1840 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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