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Full-Text Articles in Economic History
The Herodotus Paradox, Michael R. Baye, Dan Kovenock, Casper G. De Vries
The Herodotus Paradox, Michael R. Baye, Dan Kovenock, Casper G. De Vries
Economics Faculty Articles and Research
The Babylonian bridal auction, described by Herodotus, is regarded as one of the earliest uses of an auction in history. Yet, to our knowledge, the literature lacks a formal equilibrium analysis of this auction. We provide such an analysis for the two-player case with complete and incomplete information, and in so doing identify what we call the 'Herodotus paradox.'