Article ID: | iaor20082826 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 153 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 131 |
End Page Number: | 164 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2007 |
Journal: | Annals of Operations Research |
Authors: | Crainic Teodor Gabriel, Gendreau Michel, Abrache Jawad, Rekik Monia |
Keywords: | auctions |
Combinatorial auctions are an important class of market mechanisms in which participants are allowed to bid on bundles of multiple heterogeneous items. In this paper, we discuss several complex issues that are encountered in the design of combinatorial auctions. These issues are related to the formulation of the winner determination problem, the expression of combined bids, the design of progressive combinatorial auctions that require less information revelation, and the need for decision support tools to help participants make profitable bidding decisions. For each issue, we survey the existing literature and propose avenues for further research.