Conference on Auctions and Infrastructure to be Hosted by the University of Maryland in Spring 1998

本提案是为1998年春季由马里兰大学主办的拍卖和基础设施会议而提出的。会议为期两天半(星期五、星期六和星期日)。大约有12篇论文将被安排进行陈述和讨论。此外，参与者在休息和用餐时非正式地讨论想法。1990年代的一项重要经济发展是基础设施产业的重组。在世界各地，市场正在取代垄断，私营企业越来越多地提供曾经由政府提供的商品和服务。拍卖在此次重组中扮演着重要角色。拍卖为政府私有化工业、垄断企业剥离资产以及分配稀缺资源提供了一种高效和透明的方式。应用见于所有基础设施行业：电信(例如，FCC频谱拍卖)、电力、天然气、水、空气和交通。国债拍卖是一个相关的应用。20世纪90年代初，经济学家们意识到，现有的拍卖理论不适用于这些应用。虽然单件物品的拍卖理论已经很成熟，但这些应用中的每一个都涉及多件物品的销售，往往具有物品之间的价值相互依存关系。作为回应，出现了一波针对多件物品拍卖的研究活动。这项工作是理论的、实验的和经验的。拟议的会议将汇集约40名拍卖领域的专家，介绍和讨论他们对拍卖的研究。这次会议将包括理论家、实验主义者和经验主义者。共同的核心将是拍卖，以及将拍卖想法应用于这些重要的现实世界应用的愿望。行业专家和政策制定者也将参加。会议记录将广泛传播。

Project Abstract This proposal is for a conference on auctions and infrastructure hosted by the University of Maryland in the spring of 1998. The conference lasts two and one half days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). About one dozen papers are scheduled for presentation and discussion. In addition, participants discuss informally ideas during breaks and meals. An important economic development of the 1990s has been the restructuring of infrastructure industries. Throughout the world, markets are replacing monopoly, and private firms are increasingly providing goods and services that once were provided by government. Auctions are playing a major role in this restructuring. Auctions provide an efficient and transparent way for governments to privatize industries, for monopolies to divest their assets, and for scarce resources to be allocated. Applications are seen in every infrastructure industry: telecommunications (e.g., the FCC spectrum auctions), electric power, natural gas, water, air, and transportation. Treasury auctions are a related application. In the early 1990s, economists realized that existing auction theory was inadequate for these applications. Although auction theory for the sale of a single item is well developed, each of these applications involves the sale of multiple items, often with value interdependencies among items. In response, there has been a burst of research activity on auctions for multiple items. This work is theoretical, experimental, and empirical. The proposed conference will bring together about forty experts in the auction field to present and discuss their research on auctions. The conference will mix theorists, experimentalists, and empiricists. The common core will be auctions and a desire to apply auction ideas to these important real world applications. Industry experts and policy makers will also participate. The conference proceedings will be widely disseminated.