BUDGET CONSTRAINTS AND DEMAND REDUCTION IN SIMULTANEOUS ASCENDING-BID AUCTIONS

Warning: is_dir(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/libraries) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/web1050:/usr/share/php) in libraries_get_libraries() (line 176 of /home/web1050/public_html/sites/all/modules/contrib/libraries/libraries.module).

The possibility, even if arbitrarily small, of binding budget constraints in simultaneous ascending bid auctions induces strategic demand reduction and generates significant inefficiencies. Under mild conditions on the distributions of the bidders' values, unconstrained bidders behave as if they were liquidity constrained, even as the probability that bidders are budget constrained goes to zero.