Demand-Revealing Mechanisms for Private Good Auctions

The set of demand revealing mechanisms for allocating private goods is characterized and examples are given. Auctions in which multiple units of either homogenous or nonhomogeneous commodities are studied and, in particular, it is demonstrated that there will generally not exist a demand revealing mechanism with which each bidder will pay the same price for each unit purchased. The experimental literature on these bidding mechanisms is discussed and several additional inquiries are suggested.