Chapter | Fourteen
Some Revenue
Considerations
The previous chapter focused on some properties of the equilibria of multiunit
auctions and the consequences for the efficiency of the various formats. This
chapter concerns the issue of revenue.
The revenue equivalence principle formed the cornerstone of the analysis
of single object auctions in the independent private values setting. Its message
was that if two auction formats resulted in the same equilibrium allocation, then
the two auctions must result in the same expected payoffs and revenues. In its
simplest form it ensured that if bidders are symmetric, then all standard single
object auctions—in particular, the first- and second-price formats—resulted in
the same expected revenue. This was because