Iterative combinatorial auctions with bidder-determined combinations

Iterative combinatorial auctions with bidder-determined combinations

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Article ID: iaor20073730
Country: United States
Volume: 51
Issue: 3
Start Page Number: 407
End Page Number: 418
Publication Date: Mar 2005
Journal: Management Science
Authors: , ,
Keywords: programming: mathematical, bidding
Abstract:

In combinatorial auctions, multiple distinct items are sold simultaneously and a bidder may place a single bid on a set (package) of distinct items. The determination of packages for bidding is a nontrivial task, and existing efficient formats require that bidders know the set of packages and/or their valuations. In this paper, we extend an efficient ascending combinatorial auction mechanism to use approximate single-item pricing. The single-item prices in each round are derived from a linear program that is constructed to reflect the current allocation of packages. Introduction of approximate single-item prices allows for endogenous bid determination where bidders can discover packages that were not included in the original bid set. Due to nonconvexities, single-item prices may not exist that are exact marginal values. We show that the use of approximate single-item prices with endogenous bidding always produces allocations that are at least as efficient as those from bidding with a fixed set of packages based on package pricing. A network resource allocation example is given that illustrates the benefits of our endogenous bidding mechanism.

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