Behavior-based Demand Estimation
When to outbid. when to outfox? I do not think it is enough
to attempt to win those assets in an auction which the client considers
high priority. Simply outbidding rivals may well lead to paying too
much (see the winner's curse link below). As much as possible, my goal is
to win what the client wants to win, while keeping as much money as possible
still in the client's wallet. Moreparticularly, I seek to find ways
to convince rival bidders to cease competing below their willingness to
pay for assets we want to win, so that we win them at prices that are still
bargains. This is only possible by a strategy which is a detailed
reaction to the particular rules, and the nature of rivals' behavior.
High-stakes bidding
is complex, and it pays to design a bidding strategy that pays careful attention
to auction rules, even unintended rules.
It would oversimplify to say that designing auctions and advising bidders
are opposite sides of the same coin, but there is definitely a sense in
which experience with one assists in the ability to do the other. As
an auction designer, I try to limit as much as possible the game-playing
bidders can do, within goals of efficient and/or high-revenue auction outcomes.
When advising bidders, I find every loophole and unintended consequence within
the rules, and in unanticipated gaps in the rules, and see how they might
be utilized to the advantage of my client.
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