Imagine an auction mechanism that is just like an ascending-bid auction,
except that at the end, the winning bidder, the one who bid $b_{max}$,
pays only $b_{max}/2$ rather than $b_{max}$. Assuming all agents are
rational, what is the expected revenue to the auctioneer for this
mechanism, compared with a standard ascending-bid auction?
Imagine an auction mechanism that is just like an ascending-bid auction, except that at the end, the winning bidder, the one who bid $b_{max}$, pays only $b_{max}/2$ rather than $b_{max}$. Assuming all agents are rational, what is the expected revenue to the auctioneer for this mechanism, compared with a standard ascending-bid auction?