A market mechanism in which an object, service, or set of objects, is exchanged on the basis of bids submitted by participants.
Auctions provide a specific set of rules that will govern the sale or purchase (procurement auction)
of an object to the submitter of the most favorable bid. The specific mechanisms of the auction include first
and second price auctions, and English and and Dutch auctions.
updated: 12 August 2005
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
- To learn more:
- See news articles on auctions.
- Try a winner's curse applet on the applets page.
- Read about auction experiments at e-Economics.net.
- Learn about auctions by reading lecture notes.