Analysis of Ausubel auctions by means of evolutionary computation

The increasing use of auctions has led to a growing interest in the subject. A recent method used for carrying out examinations on auctions has been the design of computational simulations. The aim of this paper is to develop a genetic algorithm to find bidders´ optimal strategies for a specific dynamic multi-unit auction. The algorithm provides the bidding strategy (defined as the action to be taken under different auction conditions) that maximizes the bidder´s payoff. The algorithm is tested under several experimental environments, number of bidders and quantity of lots auctioned. The results suggest that the approach leads to strategies that outperform canonical strategies.