Auction design impacts revenue: First-price auctions favored with few bidders.
The article explores how auctions are designed when buyers and sellers have uncertain information about the value of a good and learn through experience. The study shows that buyer strategies do not always converge to bidding the expected value of the good, and first- and second-price auctions do not generate the same revenue. The number of bidders and the reservation price can impact auction outcomes, with sellers tending to use first-price auctions when only a few bidders participate, even though it may result in lower average revenue compared to second-price auctions.