Efficiency and price discovery in multi-item auctions

Distributed multi-item auctions offer great opportunities for integrating fragmented online auction markets into larger markets with more efficient outcomes. We extend the theory of multiitem ascending auctions in a multi-unit demand scenario. We show that a simple greedy bidding strategy results in efficient allocation and unique prices. We also show that the strategy constitutes a Nash Equilibrium of the system with single unit demand. We discuss the implications of our results for the design of auctions on the Internet.