{"id":452285,"date":"2026-09-15T15:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/publication\/452285\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T16:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:35:08","slug":"when-can-auctions-maximize-post-auction-welfare","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/452285\/","title":{"rendered":"When Can Auctions Maximize Post-auction Welfare?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-452285","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subtitle":"","text":"I study auctions in which firms bid for licenses that reduce their marginal costs in a post-auction downstream market. When there are three or more firms, I show that the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) auction maximizes consumer surplus in dominant strategies if and only if it maximizes producer surplus in dominant strategies. With two firms, the effect on consumer surplus is ambiguous. When the VCG auction does not maximize consumer surplus, I show that consumer surplus can be maximized by adding caps, i.e., restricting the number of licenses a bidder can win. This might lower producer surplus.","onlinedate":"2023-07-01 02:00:00","lang":"English","publication_series":"","publication_date":"20230701","publication_date_year":"","publication_date_full":false,"publication_num_pages":"15","keywords":"[\"Allocative externality\",\"Caps\",\"Set-asides\",\"Innovation\",\"Mergers and acquisitions\"]","jelcodes":"[\"D44\",\"D47\",\"H82\",\"L13\"]","related_publications":"[]","pdf":null,"zip":null,"link":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ijindorg.2023.102972","monthly_report":false,"monthly_report_main":false,"monthly_report_volume":"89","monthly_report_pages":"","monthly_report_pages_sort":"0","issue":"","journal":"International Journal of Industrial Organization","publisher":"","invisible":false,"external":true,"embargo_date":null,"types":[83083],"research_groups":[3655],"collaboration":"","persons":[425699],"persons_data":"[{\"personId\":425699,\"personName\":\"Bernhard Kasberger\",\"organisationNames\":[]}]","clients":[],"subclients":[],"partners":[],"topics":[],"host_publication_title":"","host_publication_subtitle":"","place_of_publication":"","host_publication_editors":"[]","type_description":"","output_media":"","chapter":"","article_number":102972,"citations":"","scientific_assistance":"[]","scientific_review":"[]","version":"","release_date":null,"expiration_date":null,"surveyor":"","research_assistance":"","edv":"","additional_info_de":"","additional_info_en":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.3 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When Can Auctions Maximize Post-auction Welfare? - WIFO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/452285\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Can Auctions Maximize Post-auction Welfare?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/452285\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WIFO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFOat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-15T14:35:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WIFO-Gebaeude-FotoAlexanderMueller-www.alexandermueller.at-IMG_6326-Bearbeitet-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WIFOat\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/452285\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/452285\\\/\",\"name\":\"When Can Auctions Maximize Post-auction Welfare? 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