Favoritism and Anonymity in Auctions

LEANDRO AROZAMENA; FEDERICO WEINSCHELBAUM

San Pablo Y Rio de Janeiro

Conferencia; First Brazilian Conference Series on Public Procurement and Concession Design; 2014

Fundaçao Getulio Vargas

We examine the effect of imposing a constraint on the auction designer that forces him to treat all bidders equally. In particular, we characterize the optimal auction for a revenue-maximizing seller when equal-treatment is required. In addition, we analyze endogenous entry under anonymity. Finally, we examine the optimal anonymous auction for a seller when there is favoritism, both under free entry and with an exogenous number of bidders.