Ranking asymmetric auctions

We compare the expected revenue in first‐ and second‐price auctions with asymmetric bidders. We consider ‘close to uniform’ distributions with identical supports and show that in the case of identical supports the expected revenue in second‐price auctions may exceed that in first‐price auctions. We also show that asymmetry over lower valuations has a stronger negative impact on the expected revenue in first‐price auctions than in second‐price auctions. However, asymmetry over high valuations always increases the revenue in first‐price auctions.