2 ideas from R. V. Clapp, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.
When bidders each guess independently at the true value of something, like an oil-drilling lease, the winning bid tends to come from whoever overestimated by the most. Engineers st…
— E. C. Capen, R. V. Clapp, W. M. Campbell, Competitive Bidding in High-Risk Situations
When many bidders independently guess the value of something uncertain, like an oil field's reserves, their estimates scatter around the true value. The winning bid is, almost by d…
— E. C. Capen, R. V. Clapp and W. M. Campbell, Competitive Bidding in High-Risk Situations