Chapter | Eighteen
Multiple Objects and
Interdependent Values
Our treatment of multiple-object auctions has been confined to the case of private
values. Even in this relatively simple setting, we saw that the question of effi-
ciency was a delicate one. On the other hand, we also saw that the question
of efficiency in single-object auctions with interdependent values was delicate
as well. In this chapter we study multiple-object auctions when buyers have
interdependent values. As we will see, a combination of these two features only
makes the attendant difficulties more acute, even insurmountable. In some sense
we have reached the limits of what auction-like mechanisms can accomplish in
terms of allocating efficiently, at least at a general level. It is