The theory and practice of auctions

Due to advances in theory as well as in technology, the importance of auctions has increased significantly in the past years. They are routinely used on the internet (eBay) but have been also considered by the US government to buy banks' toxic assets as a means of reviving credit markets. Auctions of telecommunication frequency bands have caused stirs in recent years. In the Netherlands, a new auction of this type, which will be conducted over the internet this time, is coming up in the second quarter of 2009. The outcome of such auctions is greatly influenced by their design. On 27 February 2009, a one-day workshop on this topic will take place at Tilburg University. This meeting is organized jointly by the Royal Dutch Mathematical Society (KWG), section Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ITW), and TILEC, and is co-sponsored by the Department of Econometrics and Operations Research of Tilburg University. Four well-known experts will discuss the design of auctions from several perspectives: Eric van Damme (Tilburg), Jean-Jacques Herings (Maastricht), Emiel Maasland (Rotterdam) and Sven de Vries (Trier). The programme includes an auction under laboratory conditions, run by CentERlab, in which workshop participants will play a role as bidders. Registration is free but required by 15 February 2009.