To: Respondents to  Auction Center Query

From: Bob Marshall

Re: Auction research statements

The research statements sent to me from 17 PSU  faculty, plus my statement, are below - random order. The meeting has been set for Monday November 6 at 10AM in Room 420 of Kern. Look forward to seeing your there.

Let me offer two observations from these statements.

1If we get to the point of writing a proposal, the composition of researchers looks both broad and deep. Foundationally, we cover theory, experiments, and data analysis. Also, lots of different applications. The only concern I have is the apparent shortage of faculty in numerical analysis. (Many auction problems are analytically intractable due to asymmetries among the players.)
2Research topics include: collusion, auctions versus bargaining, efficiency, double auctions including automated trading in ``thick'' markets, information acquisition on the web and its implications for auctions, multiple-unit auctions, to name a few.

I think all of these issue can be unified under the theme of  ``auctions and the internet''. (My colleagues in Economics are almost surely muttering obscenities about me from this one sentence.) Here's the idea. Any research program about auctions that was of interest prior to the existence of internet auctions is still relevant. The web did not eliminate problems of collusion, efficiency, whether to sell by auction versus bilaterla exchange, etc.  Thus, no existing research program identified below is precluded. However, the internet poses some additional issues about the flow of information, bundling, access, and many others that make the environment of internet auctions potentially different from ``standard'' auctions.  So ``auctions and the internet'' brings in all existing research programs as well as those dedicated to web specific issues.

This is only one idea. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Monday.

Date: 11/2/00

To: Respondents to  Auction Center Query

From: Bob Marshall

Re: Auction research statements

The research statements sent to me from 17 PSU  faculty, plus my statement, are below - random order. The meeting has been set for Monday November 6 at 10AM in Room 420 of Kern. Look forward to seeing your there.

Let me offer two observations from these statements.

1If we get to the point of writing a proposal, the composition of researchers looks both broad and deep. Foundationally, we cover theory, experiments, and data analysis. Also, lots of different applications. The only concern I have is the apparent shortage of faculty in numerical analysis. (Many auction problems are analytically intractable due to asymmetries among the players.)
2Research topics include: collusion, auctions versus bargaining, efficiency, double auctions including automated trading in ``thick'' markets, information acquisition on the web and its implications for auctions, multiple-unit auctions, to name a few.

I think all of these issue can be unified under the theme of  ``auctions and the internet''. (My colleagues in Economics are almost surely muttering obscenities about me from this one sentence.) Here's the idea. Any research program about auctions that was of interest prior to the existence of internet auctions is still relevant. The web did not eliminate problems of collusion, efficiency, whether to sell by auction versus bilaterla exchange, etc.  Thus, no existing research program identified below is precluded. However, the internet poses some additional issues about the flow of information, bundling, access, and many others that make the environment of internet auctions potentially different from ``standard'' auctions.  So ``auctions and the internet'' brings in all existing research programs as well as those dedicated to web specific issues.

This is only one idea. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Monday.