Working Paper
The Herodotus Paradox
Michael R. Baye, Dan Kovenock J., Casper De Vries
CESifo, Munich, 2010
CESifo Working Paper No. 3135
CESifo, Munich, 2010
CESifo Working Paper No. 3135
The Babylonian bridal auction, described by Herodotus, is regarded as one of the earliest uses of an auction in history. Yet, to our knowledge, the literature lacks a formal equilibrium analysis of this auction. We provide such an analysis for the two-player case with complete and incomplete information, and in so doing identify what we call the “Herodotus Paradox.”
CESifo Category
Empirical and Theoretical Methods
Empirical and Theoretical Methods
JEL Classification: C720,D440