Comments on: Big News

By: Indro

Indro — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:18:32 +0000

Good to see economics being used in practice, yet again. Regarding the Dutch auction, it has the drawback that it does not take advantage of the pre-game build-up of excitement. I would put my money on a modified version of eBay’s method. As the time for the game nears the excitement would tend to build up and people’s willingness to pay could be expected to increase. It is perhaps the before-game excitement that would explain the existence of scalpers, too. I would like to think that only English auction can cash-in on that. Bidder’s could “Buy-it-now” at a price that keeps increasing as the “current high-bid” moves up, place a maximum-bid up to which the system will automatically place bid on the bidder’s behalf, or increase the bid in increments till the auction ends.

By: Jeremy Chen

Jeremy Chen — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:01:24 +0000

Prof Ely, Nice… Great way to test a market by getting NU to buy in to it.Why about substitution between different seat classes? I’m not sure how easy it would be to coordinate multiple price points. It seems like a small combinatorial problem where the sub-market of one or more ticket class might clear independently/jointly before the rest or the whole thing might clear at once.

The question is whether it can be done in real time. But given the restriction to the Dutch auction incentive compatibility issues seem to go out the window, and it would seem very doable. Still, one step at a time.

I actually would have liked to ask your opinion on the matter of allocating public housing flats incentive compatibility in a setting where the reserve prices for the various flat classes generate “overall” cost recovery. Sort of a minimalist price mechanism. (It will have to be a first where the notion of total unimodularity appears in a proposal published by an opposition political party… albeit in some annex.)

(BTW, checked out the guitarist on YouTube. Rather subtle. Not bad.)

By: Help Us Build Purple Pricing 2.0 | Cheap Talk

Help Us Build Purple Pricing 2.0 | Cheap Talk — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 04:14:00 +0000

[...] we prepare to take Purple Pricing to the next level we are looking to hire a developer to help us build the software that will [...]

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By: Anoulack

Anoulack — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:17:12 +0000

This is getting a bit more sutbjceive, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like Mixview’ that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you’re listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of neighbors will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune Social is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.

By: ACROSS THE FADER – BIZ - Pay Less for Sporting Event Tickets—After You’ve Already Bought Them

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:15:19 +0000

[...] the idea are Jeff Ely and Sandeep Baliga, both economics professors at Northwestern who operate the Cheap Talk blog. The two econ wonks have taken a special interest in the way that tickets for concerts, sports [...]

By: Pay Less for Sporting Event Tickets—After You’ve Already Bought Them | List.ify.Me

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:55:24 +0000

By: Ticket Prices: An Experiment on How to Pay Less For Sporting Events | TIME.com

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:00:51 +0000

By: Basketball Tickets and Dutch Auctions « Close to the Edge

Basketball Tickets and Dutch Auctions « Close to the Edge — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:54:14 +0000

[...] regardless, Jeff and Sandeep at Cheap Talk are using auction theory to sell actual tickets to two Northwestern basketball games this season. Here’s a [...]

By: Pricing Northwestern basketball tickets « The Operations Room

Pricing Northwestern basketball tickets « The Operations Room — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:36:43 +0000

[...] Ely are doing with the price of Northwestern basketball tickets! Here is how the describe on their Cheap Talk [...]