
18.2 Multidimensional Signals 259
Consider an open ascending price auction. Since each bidder wants at most
one unit of the goods, the workings of the Ausubel auction are the same as the
workings of the multiunit English auction. In other words, the price rises until
one of the bidders drops out. At that stage, the total supply is equal to the total
demand, so the auction is over. Thus, the two units are sold to the two remaining
bidders at the price at which the first bidder drops out.
Each bidder need only decide when to drop out. Bidder 2 has private values,
so it is weakly dominant for him to drop out when the price reaches his private
value. The ...