Joint estimation of bidders' risk attitudes and private information

A computer system comprising:

• storage that contains auction data from previously conducted auctions, wherein the auction data comprises bids submitted in utility-independent auctions and bids submitted in utility-independent auctions, wherein the utility-dependent auctions comprise auctions in which bidding behavior depends on risk attitudes and the utility-independent auctions comprise auctions in which bidding behavior does not depend on risk attitudes;
• and
• a processor that can access the storage, wherein the processor determines private information using the bids submitted in utility-independent auctions, and determines risk attitudes using the private information and the bids submitted in utility-dependent auctions:
• wherein the processor generates a report comprising information associated with at least one of the private information and the risk attitudes.

A storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• retrieve auction data from previously conducted auctions, wherein the auction data comprises bids submitted in utility-dependent auctions and bids submitted in utility-independent auctions;
• estimate private information using the bids submitted in the utility-independent auctions;
• estimate risk attitudes based on the private information and the bids submitted in the utility-dependent auctions, wherein the utility-independent auctions comprise auctions in which bidding behavior depends on risk attitudes, the utility-independent auctions comprise auctions in which bidding behavior does not depend on risk attitudes;
• and
• generate a report comprising information associated with at least one of the private information and the risk attitudes.

An auction design system, comprising:

• a storage device containing an historical auction database comprising utility-dependent auction data for a plurality of utility-dependent auctions and utility-independent auction data for a plurality of utility-independent auctions, wherein the plurality of utility-dependent auctions comprises auctions in which bidding behavior depends on risk attitudes of a first plurality of bidders and the plurality of utility-independent auctions comprises auctions in which bidding behavior does not depend on risk attitudes of a second plurality of bidders;
• means for determining market structure, wherein private information for the second plurality of bidders is determined using the utility-independent auction data, and risk attitudes for the first plurality of bidders is determined using the private information and the utility-independent auction data:
• and
• means for generating a report comprising information associated with at least some of the private information and the risk attitudes.

A method for analyzing auction data comprising:

• determining private information for a first plurality of bidders using utility-independent auction data stored in a computer system, the utility-independent auction data comprising auction data from a plurality of auctions in which bidding behavior does not depend on risk attitudes of the first plurality of bidders;
• determining risk attitudes for a second plurality of bidders using the private information and utility-dependent auction data stored in the computer system, the utility-dependent auction data comprising auction data from a plurality of auctions in which bidding behavior depends on the risk attitudes of the second plurality of bidders:
• and
• generating a report comprising information associated with at least one of the private information and the risk attitudes.

A method for analyzing auction data comprising:

• accessing utility-independent auction data and utility-dependent auction data from an auction database, wherein the utility-independent auction data comprises data from auctions in which bidding behavior does not depend on risk attitudes and the utility-dependent auction data comprises data from auctions in which bidding behavior depends on risk attitudes;
• determining a joint distribution function that represents private information of a first plurality of bidders using the utility-independent auction data;
• determining a utility of wealth function of a second plurality of bidders using the joint distribution function and the utility-dependent auction data:
• and
• generating a report comprising information associated with at least one of the joint distribution function and the utility of wealth function.