Dissolving an ambiguous partnership

Two partners try to dissolve a partnership that owns an asset of ambiguous value, where the value is determined ex post by a draw from an Ellsberg urn. In a within-subject experiment, subjects make decisions in three different bargaining mechanisms: unstructured bargaining, the Texas shoot-out, and a K + 1 auction. We find that the K + 1 auction is the most efficient mechanism, which is in line with theory. Free format bargaining yields a surprising number of disagreements, which are not usually observed when the partnership has a certain or risky value.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Published
2026-02-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107453
Primary Topic
Auction Theory and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Dissolving an ambiguous partnership

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Auction Theory and Applications
article

Dissolving an ambiguous partnership

article en

Abstract

Two partners try to dissolve a partnership that owns an asset of ambiguous value, where the value is determined ex post by a draw from an Ellsberg urn. In a within-subject experiment, subjects make decisions in three different bargaining mechanisms: unstructured bargaining, the Texas shoot-out, and a K + 1 auction. We find that the K + 1 auction is the most efficient mechanism, which is in line with theory. Free format bargaining yields a surprising number of disagreements, which are not usually observed when the partnership has a certain or risky value.

Journal of Economic Behavior & OrganizationVol. 243
Franklin & Marshall College (US), Heidelberg University (DE), Heidelberg University (US)
Partnerships for the goals
Openalex Percentile: Top 69%
Auction Theory and Applications
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