On seller estimates and buyer returns

Autor: Flavio Toxvaerd, Alex Gershkov
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: Economic Theory Bulletin. 1:47-55
ISSN: 2196-1093
2196-1085
Popis: This paper revisits recent empirical research on buyer credulity in arts auctions and auctions for assets in general. We show that elementary results in auction theory can fully account for some stylized facts on asset returns that have been held to suggest that sellers of assets can exploit buyers by providing biased estimates of asset values. We argue that, rather than showing that buyers are credulous, the existing evidence can serve as an indirect test of the rationality assumptions underlying auction theory.
Databáze: OpenAIRE