A Very Silent Auction
In celebration of what would have been Jim Mirrlees' 90th birthday, we are auctioning a number of special items generously donated in his memory. All proceeds go to the endowed scholarship established in Jim's name.
How the bidding works
You may make as many bids as you like. Each bid is an "or" bid: you name one or more items and a value for each, and the bid wins at most one of them. A bid for a single item is simply a bid of that kind.
The auction finds the lowest competitive-equilibrium prices that balance supply and demand, and allocates the goods accordingly. If your bids reflect your true values, you can do no better than bid honestly.
Items on offer
General items
Soap statue of Jim
A soap statue of Jim Mirrlees, kindly donated by Patricia Mirrlees.
Bronze statue
A bronze statue from Jim's private collection.
Academic gown
Jim's Cambridge academic gown, worn at many a graduation.
Books
India: The Most Dangerous Decades
By Selig S. Harrison (1960). From Jim's library, signed.
Elements of Pure Economics
or, The Theory of Social Wealth
By Léon Walras (1954). From Jim's library, signed.
Philosophy, Politics and Society
By Peter Laslett and W.G. Runciman (1962). From Jim's library, signed.
Tribal and Peasant Economies
By George Dalton (1967). From Jim's library, signed.
The Theory of Monopolistic Competition
By Edward Chamberlin (1956). From Jim's library, signed.
Philosophy in a New Key
By Susanne K. Langer (1951). From Jim's library, signed.
An Economic History of England
The Eighteenth Century
By T.S. Ashton (1955). From Jim's library, signed.
The Revolution in Philosophy
By Ayer, Kneale, Paul, Pears, Strawson, Warnock, Wollheim (1956). From Jim's library, signed.
The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo Vol. 1
Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
Edited by Piero Sraffa (with M.H. Dobb) (1962). From Jim's library, signed.
Sovereignty
By Bertrand De Jouvenel (1957). From Jim's library, signed.
Political Man
The Social Bases of Politics
By Seymour Martin Lipset (1963). From Jim's library, signed.
General Economic History
By Max Weber (1961). From Jim's library, signed.
The Trade Cycle
By R.C.O. Matthews (1959). From Jim's library, signed.
Capitalism, Primitive and Modern
By T. Scarlett Epstein (1968). From Jim's library, signed.
The Principles of Morals and Legislation
By Jeremy Bentham (1948). From Jim's library, signed.
The Politics of Scarcity
By Myron Weiner (1963). From Jim's library, signed.
The Importance of Scrutiny
Selections from Scrutiny, a Quarterly Review, 1932–1948
Edited by Eric Bentley (1964). From Jim's library, signed.
Leviathan
or, the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil
By Thomas Hobbes (1960). From Jim's library, signed.
Essays in Conceptual Analysis
By Anthony Flew (1956). From Jim's library, signed.
Chamber Music
By Alec Robertson (1957). From Jim's library, signed.
About the Product-Mix Auction
This is a simplified version of the Product-Mix Auction, designed by Paul Klemperer (Nuffield College) in 2007–8. When the financial crisis began with the run on Northern Rock, the Bank of England needed to lend cash to banks against a wider range of collateral — but at higher rates for weaker collateral. Klemperer devised an auction that lets bidders express how they value several related goods at once, then finds the prices and allocation that clear the market efficiently in a single round. The Bank of England adopted it and still uses it today; its then-Governor, Mervyn King, called it "a marvellous application of theoretical economics to a practical problem of vital importance to financial markets."
Mathematically, each bidder's demand is captured by simple "or" bids, and the auction computes competitive-equilibrium prices, specifically the unique lowest prices that balance supply and demand. The design has since been developed further. This birthday auction applies the same design to Jim's belongings—a fitting nod to an economist whose own work shaped the theory of prices and incentives.