We consider a general family of auction mechanisms that admit multiple buyers and sellers, and determine market-clearing prices. We analyze the economic incentives facing participants in such auctions, demonstrating that, under some conditions, it is possible to induce truthful revelation of values by buyers or sellers, but not both, and for singlebut not multi-unit bids. We also perform a comp...

While research has shown that the Internet has lowered the prices in some established industries, we know little about how using the Internet lowers prices. We answer this question for the auto retailing industry with matched survey and transaction data on 1,500 car purchases in California. We show that the Internet lowers prices for two distinct reasons. First, the Internet informs consumers a...

A given overall aggregate sales history could be the realization of very different purchasing scenarios. For example, a low sales level for a new product could be the result of: (i) many consumers making a trial purchase but very few of them making a repeat purchase (because the product does not meet their expectations), or (ii) a low trial rate but a high level of repeat purchasing amongst the...

We study the envy-free pricing problem in linear multi-unit markets with budgets, where there is a seller who brings multiple units of a good, while several buyers bring monetary endowments. Our goal is to compute an envy-free (item) price and allocation, i.e. an outcome where all the demands of the buyers are met given their budget constraints, which additionally achieves a desirable objective...

Because home equity is low-income households’ dominant form of wealth, an understanding of the price dynamics of the housing stock held by these owners and the timing of their purchases and sales is important for understanding the risk-return tradeoffs associated with their decision to buy homes. Asset appreciation enjoyed or depreciation suffered by individual owners depends, however, not only...