A model for sealed-bid auctions with independent private value and common value components

This paper shows how a decision-making model can be applied to a sealed-bid auction with both independent private value (IPV) and common value (CV) components. The model yields estimates for the winning bid and for the actual value and error components of the winning bid as functions of the number of bidders and the underlying value and error distributions, assuming that these distributions are normal. The winner's curse and the special cases of IPV and CV auctions are examined using the model.